Why Raptors fans knew Kevin Durant would hit the game winner
After the Game of the Year candidate that saw the Thunder edge the Raptors in double-overtime on a Kevin Durant three-pointer from the shores of Lake Ontario, the talk will rightfully be about one of Durant’s most shining moments in a truly historic season, about John Salmons collapsing under the pressure of the moment with a turnover and two missed free throws in the span of a few seconds.
But once the eight-point Raptors lead with 49 seconds to go in the second OT period dwindled to two on a Derek Fisher three-pointer with 16 seconds left, despite the veteran point guard chucking bricks all night up to that point, deep down, any Raptors fan who’s been paying attention for the last decade knew what was coming.
They may have tried to supress it, they may have tried to pretend that it was going to be different this time now that the Raptors are legitimately good and becoming relevant again for the first time in years, but deep down they all knew.
I did, too, because I’m one of them.
You see if you’re a Raptors fan, heartbreaking home losses, often ending with a star burying a game-winning dagger in the final seconds, have just become part of the package. You don’t set an NBA record for consecutive home overtime losses without some unbelievably hard to explain, soul-crushing defeats along the way.
So on that note, let’s relive a few of those star-studded defeats…
Vince Carter, 2006
If you want to look back down the long list of stars who have hit heartbreaking winners over the Raptors in Toronto, you have to start with Vince Carter in his first few post-Raptors years.
There was the time rookie Jose Calderon missed two free throws with the Raptors up two and seven seconds left while Vince chilled on the opposite three-point line waiting to do this:
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Vince Carter, 2008
Or how about the time the Raptors blew an 18-point second half lead and a seven-point lead in the final 30 seconds against the Nets, then tied the game with 2.9 seconds left in overtime only for Carter to do this?
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Ray Allen, 2007
The Celtics started the season 8-0 in the first year (and championship year) of their 'Big Three' era, but the second game of their time together saw the defending Atlantic Division champion (a meaningless, but nonetheless real title) Raptors take them to overtime. In the end, it will simply be remembered as the first of many times that Ray Allen hit a big shot for Boston:
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Rudy Gay, 2011
Before his brief Raptors tenure, Rudy Gay added his name to the long list of Raptors killers with a game-winner in Toronto that inspired the most EXTREMELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK NBA fan reaction video ever:
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Kobe Bryant, 2012
Oh you know about the time Kobe dropped 81 on the Raptors in L.A. and you might even remember his 2010 game winner against the Raps at Staples Center or his three three-pointers in the final two minutes to force overtime last season, but he also had a game-winner at Air Canada Centre just a couple of years ago:
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Jeremy Lin, 2012
Literally two days after that Kobe Bryant dagger, the Air Canada Centre bore witness to the absolute, inexplicable peak of ‘Linsanity’ on the same court that gave birth to Vinsanity:
Happy 2012 Valentine’s Day, Toronto!
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Kyrie Irving, 2013
Everyone in attendance and watching on TV could see Dwane Casey begging Alan Anderson to move up on Kyrie for a solid six seconds. Anderson, standing just feet away from Casey, never got the memo. Boom. Add Irving to the list:
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Kemba Walker, 2013
This one’s actually from earlier this season, and at this point there really isn’t much left to say. The Raptors needed to survive just one more second out of a timeout to get to a second overtime. Unfortunately…
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Kevin Durant, 2014
And lastly, of course, The Slim Reaper himself from just last night:
At this point we've got the routine solidly nailed down, as you'll notice a pattern of sounds. Raucous chants of 'Defense!' from the tortured crowd, the swoosh of a made basket, the sound of nearly 20,000 people deflating at once, and finally PA announcer Herbie Kuhn proclaiming 'Timeout, Toronto.'
Clockwork.
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Bonus: Chris Bosh, 2010
This one doesn’t really count since it’s not a star hitting a game-winner against the Raptors in Toronto, but it’s easily one of the most painful home finishes in recent memory.
After clawing back from down 16 over the final seven minutes, the Raptors found themselves within three with 2.9 seconds left and Chris Bosh at the free throw line. Bosh made both, and then Sonny Weems, while falling out of bounds, stole Golden State’s inbounds pass and miraculously found Bosh under the hoop for what should have been the unbelievable game-winner.
Only Bosh missed the layup from point blank range and the Raptors lost another devastating heartbreaker:
The catch? 10 days later, the Raptors would be eliminated from postseason contention on the final day of the regular season, falling short of eighth place Chicago by one game. And since Bosh suffered a broken facial bone in Cleveland a couple of days after the loss to the Warriors, that failed layup and the priceless, gutted reaction that followed turned out to be his last moments as a Raptor on the Air Canada Centre floor.
That is how one of the top-two players in franchise history saw his tenure with the team and fans come to an end after seven years.
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Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. Just recounting all of it now makes me feel like Jimmy Fallon and his Fenway Park friends trying to describe pre-2004, Curse of the Bambino era Red Sox fandom to Drew Barrymore in ‘Fever Pitch.’
We may not have 86 fruitless years under our belts, but us Raptors fans have already experienced as much heartbreak as one fanbase can handle, and on our own home court to boot. Heck, even in a promising season of change, we’ve still managed to add two more entries to this list.
For the love of (Basketball) God, when will it end?