The Myth of Tainted Achievement
There is no asterisk on this Raptors championship.
The 2018–19 NBA season will serve as a reminder of how hard it is to win a championship.
When DeMarcus Cousins signed with the Golden State Warriors during free agency last summer, many jumped to conclusions, ready to declare the Warriors three-peat champions and move on to the next season. After all, Cousins gave the Warriors a starting lineup comprised of five NBA All-Stars and two former MVPs, none of which were over 30. How could you beat a team like that?
And yet, on Thursday, the Toronto Raptors won their first title in franchise history — on the Warriors home floor, no less. They had done the unthinkable.
Toronto finished the regular season with a better record than the Warriors and won both regular-season meetings. Then in the NBA Finals, they beat the defending champs 4–2 (for an overall mark of 6–2 on the year), including a perfect 3–0 on the road at Oracle Arena. All for a team without a single lottery pick on their roster.
Still, because of injuries — particularly to Warriors stars Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, some will attempt to delegitimize the Raptors’ victory by giving it the figurative asterisk, representing that it is unequal to other titles won in the past. They would have you read the list of recent NBA champions like so:
2017 — Golden State Warriors
2018 — Golden State Warriors
2019 — Toronto Raptors*
The Raptors are far from the first team to get this treatment. It seems that any time a team wins while their opponents aren’t at full strength or benefit from a missed call by the officials, the asterisk returns to complain about how things are unfair. When the Warriors beat a Cleveland Cavaliers team in 2015 that had an injured Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, people played the “what if” game, and said it wouldn’t count until they beat a healthy finals squad.
This is unfortunate because sometimes, things really are unfair. Take Lance Armstrong’s seven consecutive Tour de France titles. Armstrong doped, and following his cheating scandal, his titles were stripped. You could say he was given the asterisk.
But even in a situation like Armstrong’s, the asterisk does little. Everyone knows who finished first in those seven years because history remembers winners. No one knows the names of the second-place finishers that would’ve taken the gold had Armstrong not competed.
Giving the Toronto Raptors’ championship an asterisk is childish and neglects the realities of sport. It likens them to cheaters like Armstrong and diminishes the glory they’ve earned.
The Raptors had no say in the Warriors’ injuries. I’m sure that if given the chance, they would have preferred to have gone up against a fully healthy Warriors team. Athletes understand the realities of injuries and that athletes are real people rather than gods to be worshipped or vilified at the viewer’s discretion.
Unfortunately, the Warriors were very unlucky with injuries this season, but injuries are a part of the game — an unpredictable element each team must face. The Raptors simply played the team that took the court opposite them.
An NBA championship isn’t won in a single series, either. After beating the Orlando Magic in the first round, Toronto faced the Philadelphia 76ers in a grueling seven-game series that gave the eventual champs everything they could handle.
Then, in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Raptors recovered from a 2–0 deficit against the Milwaukee Bucks, the team with the best record in the league, winning four straight to book the franchise’s first appearance in the NBA Finals.
When it finally came time to face the Warriors, who were still armed with plenty of talent and had just swept the Portland Trail Blazers, the Raptors used their depth.
While Kawhi Leonard was consistently great, every other member of the rotation stepped up in big ways. Pascal Siakam carried the load in Game 1 with 32 points on an unbelievable 14/17 shooting. He closed the series almost as spectacularly as he started it, with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and a humongous shot with 26 seconds left to help seal Game 6.
Kyle Lowry had one of his best-ever performances in that Game 6 as well, with 11 points in the first few minutes, and 26 overall, with seven rebounds, 10 assists, and three steals to go with it.
Add in Fred VanVleet’s clutch shooting and defense on Stephen Curry, Danny Green’s six threes in Game 3, Marc Gasol’s 20 points in Game 1 and consistent inside presence throughout the series, and Serge Ibaka’s efficient jump shot and six blocks in Game 3, and it’s clear the best overall team won the series.
And for that, the Raptors deserve to be celebrated. Winning a championship is incredibly difficult and can never be taken for granted. You can find a way to delegitimize every winner if you look hard enough, but that ultimately changes nothing. So, accept the Raptors as the rightful 2019 NBA Champions. After all, they’ll be remembered as such.
