QUEBEC CITY—If Fred VanVleet cared about what others think of him and what his NBA Finals excellence last June might have done for his standing among players, he might love to stop and talk about it for minutes on end.
His fourth-quarter Game 5 brilliance — four three pointers, three clutch free throws, nary a turnover in 12 sublime minutes — was vital to the Toronto Raptors knocking off the Golden State Warriors to win the first championship in franchise history.
And if VanVleet was someone else, he might be publicly basking in that dominating performance to this day, quite happy to point out how it was the culmination of a storybook three-year ride from undrafted question mark to key member of a championship team.