On paper, this year’s final of the North American Professional Basketball League NBA is a duel between the Oakland-based Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors. The conflict can also be represented this way: The Warriors play against Canada as a whole.
The Rappers represent North Americans in the NBA Finals for the first time. After the finals, hundreds of fans sang their national anthem on the streets of the multicultural metropolis. According to “Sportsnet”, up to 7.4 million Canadians, about 20 percent of the total population, watched the first game in the final series on television sets – a Canadian record.
It is currently 2: 1 for Toronto in the Best Series. On Thursday night, the Oakland Raptors won 123–109 and achieved their home advantage. Without the injured Kevin Durant, Kel Thompson and Kevonne Loney, Steph Curry’s 47 points was not enough for the defending champion.
Winning NBA titles – It would not only be a sensation if the Warriors were the clear favorites, it would be the first major title win by a Canadian sports team since 1993. And this will be another step towards liberation in the other of Canada. The most popular American sport after American football and in a per-game rivalry with the USA.
In it, Canadians played the role of younger brother many times who laughed. The Toronto Blue Jays won the Major League Baseball World Series in 1992 and 1993 – after which they were never in the finals. Canadian NHL teams have also been waiting for a title match in ice hockey for 26 years. In addition, due to the cold, declining popularity of teams and the barrier to move to another country, many athletes had long had little interest in Canadian teams.
Like the American Steve Francis. The former professional basketball player was drafted in 1999 by the Vancouver Grizzlies (now based in Memphis), but refused to play for the team and formally forced him to sign an exchange deal in Houston Was transferred. “I almost cried when Vancouver picked me. I definitely didn’t want to move away from my family and friends to this freezing cold Canada.”
Eye level in ice hockey
In ice hockey, the men’s national teams met at eye level for years. For women, both countries played every World Cup final from 1990 to 2018. The Canadians won their first eight titles and since then the Americans have won eight of the final ten finals, against Finland in 2019. In 2019, women’s teams played against each other for the first time in the newly created “Rivalry Series”. Canada won the premiere.
The biggest sensation in baseball was in 2006, when Canada defeated the United States in the 2006 World Baseball Classic tournament. In Canada, the victory was celebrated as a small miracle. In men’s football, USA clearly dominates, in women’s football, the two nations are equal.
On the other hand, Canada does not play any role in football. The Canadian Football League (CFA) now consists of only Canadian teams, expanding to the USA in the 1990s, with seven teams joining the league. American teams, however, repeatedly challenged the rules of the Canada League, where offensive lines have only three, instead of four attempts per attack, and sometimes campaigned for a name change that was purely Must move away from Canadian branding. After only two years, the project failed due to too much pride and too much financial loss. Today the CFA is seen as a reservoir for second-tier leagues and unsuccessful NFL professionals.
14 Canadians play in NBA
In contrast, Canada is writing a success story in basketball. 14 years after the Canadian James Naismith invented the game, 14 Canadians play in the NBA. More and more highly educated college graduates are entering the NBA as talented youngsters like RJ Barrett. “We have always been Dalits. What makes us stronger is Denver Nuggets playmaker Jamal Murray, who comes from a suburb of Toronto.
The Toronto Raptors and American basketball players, who saw Toronto as an opportunity, are also responsible for this success. Players like Vince Carter, Chris Bosh and all of Demar de Rozan, who lead the Raptors as the best point collector in the history of the team, replaced the unflattering Toronto with passion and an NBA hotshot with the loudest audience in the league Consistently performed well in. A rich street ball – and amateur basketball culture.
The Raptors gave the country too much sports recognition. Canada – Meanwhile, it is also a basketball production facility that can compete increasingly with the USA. The first title win would be the logical result of this success story.
