Kyle Lowry was fearless. If there was one player that should have convinced Kawhi Leonard to stay with the Toronto Raptors and win it all again, it was Lowry. All he did was throw his body through the air and stand in front of raging freight trains. Landing on the ground with a thud, yet somehow like it was an intentional landing, likely because after years and years of it, it was. Taking charge and taking the charge. There’s a moment when you realize you have a team. A chemistry that flows between players. Average is many ways but the right fit that makes the gears flow silently. The story goes that when George Harrison showed up at the Big Pink in Woodstock and heard The Band he tried to join. Inexplicably The Band declined. Aware that their chemistry was larger than the combination of stars on the stage.
Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard. Champions.
Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard. Name a GM who wouldn’t put those 5 players together now and make a run?
Masai Ujiri left Toronto nearly forgotten. There is less glamour in a rebuild. Yet, in one of the moves that will make fans and pundits ponder proudly, Kawhi Leonard’s arrival gave the Raptors something every franchise wants, a dagger in the playoffs. Kawhi was gimpy. As basketball players tend to be. Roll and ankle, twist a knee. Watching basketball players fly through the air, legs entwined, it’s a wonder someone doesn’t get hurt on every play. But they don’t, generally. Some do, a lot. Others, like Lowry, are build to last.
Why didn’t Leonard see what Lowry was? Like Brad Marchand or Sam Bennett. The reliable and limitless competitor with a scoring touch. It’s been obvious since, with those Raptor champions thriving elsewhere, it wasn’t just a Kawhi Leonard thing. It was as much or more about Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet and the rest of that team. Playing the part that finishes the puzzle.
Watching the Indiana Pacers vs. OKC Thunder complete in the 2025 NBA Finals, one couldn’t help but see those Raptors and wonder what might have been if Kawhi had stayed in Toronto. The short range jumpers, the sneaky 3 pointers at just the right moment. The defence. Kawhi was the ying to Lowry’s yang. The one handed floater from the key. Talking the charge. Hitting the 3. Anything to win. These NBA teams full of big three, star players, can’t stay healthy. What good are they? You could say the Raptors won because Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson got hurt. You could also say the Raptors won because Kyle Lowry was tougher and more durable when it mattered. No one took a beating like Lowry and still he got up and carried on and won. Kawhi could play hurt because Lowry couldn’t be. Whose the better player, the better team? The winner, that’s who.
Masai Ujiri did that. Masai Ujiri had the vision and made the deal. You only need to do it once to be remembered forever. What a team.
Masai Ujiri. Toronto - NBA Champions Parade.
Boy George
Floating on the river, face up on a paddle board. Leacock country. Baseball comes from the radio. The old man says hosting a 4 game series against the New York Yankees sounds classy. It does. George Springer hath returned. Lord knows we all wondered. If anyone deserves a slump for a season it’s George. Now he’s on a heater. Figured something out. Shhhh, don’t talk about what it is too much. Just let’er be.
A grand slam on Canada meant a whole lot. It’s easy to forget that Canada is a baseball country, too. When you take Montreal out of Canadian baseball you take the heart from the soul, up north here. Our beloved Expos live on in George Springer. Expos fans would have loved George. Not to mention Vlady. Kirk.
Vlady, Ernie, George and Kirk.
And now there is this veteran 4 man pitching rotation. If Scherzer gets going we are in David Cone country. Jack Morris stuff. Berrios the Cy Young. Bassett the baller. Gausman the gamer. Scherzer the bear. Now Clement. Now Barger. Man, with Barger in the 5 spot things get deep.
A big bad closer at the deadline? Oh boy! Oh boy, George!!
A Conn Smythe Con Job
You can’t take nothin’ from Sam Bennett. Cheap shot artist, but backs it up. A Marchand man. But you can take something from Sergei Bobrovsky and it’s the Conn Smythe Trophy. Bobrovsky made 10 saves every game against the Oilers that would have been goals by any other goalie. Unflappable. Practical. Athletic. If Bobrovsky is in net for the Oilers, the Oilers win the Stanley Cup. The Oilers dismantled their opponents goalies along the way. Bobrovsky was better. The best. MVP. Conn Smythe. Has it been so long since we’ve seen a goalie steal a Cup that we can’t remember what it looks like? That was it.
Sergei Bobrovsky. MVP.
The Body’s In Trouble.
M.M. Mitch Marner didn’t fit, somehow. Too much salt? Not enough pepper? A beautiful hockey player in a tough town. Rosie D. told me once that Toronto isn’t that tough. What do I know? Doesn’t look like much fun playing for the Leafs. Matthews the Captian Clouseau. So serious. The royal we. Getting along. The body public. Staying healthy. So much has to go into it, for it all to come together.
M.M is for Mary Margaret.
If there is a broken record in the Canadian moment, that has been since the new year, it is how deep and magical the river is. That such wonderful things about us could become so normal as to be overlooked.
Here is perhaps the greatest and most overlooked of them all. Mary Margaret O’Hara. She wouldn’t have it any other way. She knows that those who know, know. Who you talking to? Who…who?
