Back-to-back championships, very few teams have done this before, will the Toronto Raptors have what it takes to win it all? 

After the Toronto Raptors won the championship, their team looked deadly with superstar Kawhi Leonard, but something happened that was expected. The 4-time all star would enter the free agency and end up signing with the Los Angeles Clippers. People thought the 2020 playoffs were out of reach after losing a key role in their success last year. “Not really worried about the free agency thing. My representation have been talking to them about doing something and nothing has been ya know… obviously not taken care of. But it’s an ongoing conversation. But for me, it’s just going out here and doing my job like I always do” said Kyle Lowry, the starting point guard for the Toronto Raptors.

At the beginning of the season the Raptors started 21-9 through 30 games. They were off to a very hot start and proving many people wrong. Their starting five consisted of Kyle Lowry at the point guard, Fred VanVleet at the shooting guard, OG Anunoby at the small forward, Pascal Siakam at the power forward, and Marc Gasol at the center. At this point in the season they were the number two team in the Eastern Conference behind the Milwaukee Bucks. The Toronto Raptors had two All-stars, Kyle Lowry, and Pascal Siakam, who was a starter. 

The Toronto Raptors went on to finish the season 53-19 which ended up being the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Inside of the bubble they went 6-1 which was the second best in the NBA behind the Phoenix Suns who went 8-0. The Raptors went onto the playoffs as the 2nd seed and faced up against the Brooklyn Nets and swept them in 4 games with no game being close. In the second round, they went up against the Boston Celtics. The Raptors fell down 0-2 early in the series and people started to believe this was it for them, but they proved people wrong by winning two straight and making it a 2-2 series. The next game was a very hard fought game but the Celtics came up with the win to make the series 3-2. Game 6 was a must win for the Raptors to keep their season alive and have a chance at the next round . The Raptors ended up winning game 6 125-122 in a very close OT game. Game 7, the game everybody was psyched about to see how the Raptors will hold up during this. The game ended with the Celtics winning 92-87 which meant the Raptors season would come to an end and the Celtics were moving on. 

Ryan Hogan, a big Celtics fan said, “The Raptors for sure exceeded expectations in the regular season by becoming the number two seed in the East. They definitely met the playoff expectation and I’m shocked they brought it to a game seven against the C’s. I’m curious to see how they will be next year.”