For the Warriors, this 2019 title run has been different, but only in comparison to the last four years. They’ve been here before, experienced immense highs — three championships! — and unfathomable lows — first team to blow a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. To take a trip down memory lane would not require an entire accounting of their franchise’s history; it would not even extend past this most recent decade.
For Toronto, this journey has no comparison. It is all rarified air. And what’s more, as we’ve discussed elsewhere, the Raptors find themselves in a position no other Canadian professional sports team has been in for over 25 years.