Saturday, May 18, 2019
The Shot
For the next
hundred years, or so, until something better comes along, it will be
called “The Shot”.
Marc Gasol
took the ball out of bounds in Philadelphia territory. Kawhi swung
out toward him, and took the inbound pass. Well guarded at that
moment, he swung out to the top of the key, and around to the right
corner of the court in front of the Raptors' bench. He pulled up his
dribble, set his feet, and launched his shot at the basket.
It was a
high looping shot because Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid both jumped in
desperation to block it. Time stood still for every fan: those at the
game, those in Jurassic Park, and those of us watching at home.
Millions of us, wishing the ball to swish through the netting.
But no, no
such luck. The shot was short, and clanked off the rim. It bounced
high over the basket as we gasped, everyone of us. It then hit the
far rim: once, twice, three times and finally fought its way through
the mesh. Time had run out. Leonard had sent the ball toward the
basket with about one second left on the clock.
Final score?
92-90 in favour of the Raptors. They had won the seventh and deciding
game to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers, and to head into the Eastern
Conference final against the Milwaukee Bucks. That series begins
Wednesday night in Milwaukee, at 8:30pm.
Leonard was
exhausted, and yet displayed more emotion than he had in all of his
days in Toronto. He is a Stoic individual, rarely prone to outbursts
against opponents or officials. He is focused on the game. He plays
like that, game in, game out. He is the best player ever to lace up
sneakers for the Toronto side.
He leads to
team by example. He came to the team with Danny Green in exchange for
DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected first round draft pick .
He was expected to defend well, and was always on the top five list
of the best defenders in the league for several years. DeRozan was a
fan favourite in Toronto, and there were
some sad faces when he was shown the door. He was a good fit with
Kyle Lowry. And yet, they were not able to get the job done for
several years. They were dismissed from the playoffs long before they
would have reached the NBA finals, or at least the Eastern Conference
final.
Enter Kawhi
Leonard, the dynamic offensive player, certainly a pleasant surprise
for many basketball analysts. He handled the ball well, he passed
intelligently, he pulled down more than his share of rebounds, and he
shot the ball successfully. In the paint, near the basket, twisting
and turning until he was in a position to let the ball go softly into
the basket. From outside the arc, with success. He averaged more than
30 points a game in the playoffs to lead the team.
It was most
fitting that Kawhi got the ball to shoot the final shot. It was
historic that it went through the hoop.
It will be
another factor to ignite this nation to follow the game of
basketball, our game, in a way, as it was invented by a Canadian, Dr.
James Naismith.
Go Raps.
James Hurst
May 13,
2019.
-- James Hurst 613.399.2278 sportslices.blogspot.ca
# posted by James Hurst @ 10:33 AM 
