OAKLAND, CALIF.—Some people speak of him in whispers, as if telling tales of a legend. Some just laugh. It’s spooky, says one Toronto assistant, with reverence. He’s special, says a different staffer, the word freighted with feeling. After Game 4 in Philadelphia, when Kawhi hit a test version of The Shot in Game 7, a Sixers executive asked, a little unsure, “He can’t keep doing this, can he?” Toronto was falling through the air that night in Philly, and Kawhi lifted them back up.
He is still lifting them up, as high as they can go. The Toronto Raptors are on the verge of a championship, and if they win Monday the city and country will erupt.