The Toronto Raptors are the defending champions, the toughest team, pros. And earlier this week, as protests over system racism roiled the United States and the NBA was trapped it its pandemic protection sound stage, they nearly left.
“We was close,” Raptors centre Serge Ibaka said after Toronto’s 112-94 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their second-round series, after the entire NBA went dark for three days. “We was very close. But us as a group, we figure things out, and here we go. We’re here, we stayed here and we are here for a reason: not only to play basketball but to use our platform to change things out there.