OAKLAND—The best team won. Let me repeat that, long-suffering, formerly frustrated Toronto sports fans. The best team in basketball won its first NBA championship on Thursday night, dethroning the venerable Golden State Warriors in a classic Game 6.
And my, how the bulk of a quarter century can transform a franchise. Twenty-four seasons since they arrived on the scene as an expansion punching bag wearing widely mocked purple dinosaur jerseys, the Raptors proved themselves a beast of a champion on the game’s biggest stage. The No. 1 team in the world’s second-most popular sport now resides in Canada’s most populous city.