Toronto Raptors: Winning Is The Only Thing

Despite the greatest regular season the Toronto Raptors have ever had, the fans are still holding their breath as we enter the playoffs.

The Toronto Raptors have the best backcourt in the East, they have smashed their previous mark for wins by seven games, and they face an Indiana Pacers team they beat three to one in the regular season series this year.

But am I the only one that is still a little nervous?

I mean, we literally have had the best regular season a Raptors fan could have ever asked for, but due to our last two playoff runs, which I will from now on refer to as “the incidents”, it just feels like no one could truly enjoy this huge leap forward for what it was.

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It’s like getting off of back-to-back brutal breakups over two years, then you meet this new person, you have been dating for six months now and everything looks perfect. They have a steady job, they communicate well, you have a blast with each other, but somewhere in the back of your mind, your brain keeps whispering ‘it won’t laaaaaast”.

Shut up brain, what do you know?! So what if they have lost two straight opening round playoff series to lower seeded teams, the only team in the 2000’s to do so.

So what if they have still never won a seven-game series? That all changes this year!

Doesn’t it?

Let’s be frank, Paul George would have to be the 2012 reincarnate version of himself, and the Pacers would have to find a way to keep up with the impressive bench production we have seen from this team all year. Further, every time these two teams have met, the Raptors have outclassed them.

Apr 13, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Toronto Raptors center Bismack Biyombo (8) works the ball around Brooklyn Nets guard Bojan Bogdanovic (44) during the second quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /

I hear the talk of these Raptors and how “hungry” they are to prove themselves this year, and they should be.

But talk was never going to hold weight with fans, not this year.

It is the same reason why this season, for as great as it has been, really just feels like a six month long declaration of what this team claims it will do come postseason time.

Well, we are here again, and I hope this team recognizes that this time around, there will be no second chances for this group.

Could you imagine any NBA team firing a head coach after a 56 win season? It could happen here if the Raptors fall to the Pacers.

In a way, it would actually be quite a thing to see. A franchise so obsessed with success in the final place they haven’t achieved it, that they would fire the best coach they have ever had, just to prove a point to management that winning is the only thing.

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Red Sanders and Vince Lombardi quotes aside, when it comes to the Toronto Raptors, victory in the first round truly is their only option.

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