Toronto Maple Leafs: Lessons Learned from the Raptors Playoff Run
The Toronto Maple Leafs can learn quite a bit from their arena roommate as the Raptors celebrate their first championship title.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors each call Scotiabank Arena their home. The main difference between the two is that this year, one of them was able to get it done and win their respective leagues championship.
On Thursday night, the Raptors did just that to cap off a gruelling but rewarding playoff run and sending the city and country into a frenzy. While some may put asterisks beside it because of the plethora of injuries the Golden State Warriors suffered, it remained competitive until the very end and was a joy to watch all the way through.
In a lot of ways, this was the climactic end to what was a tiring 6-year stretch where the team came up short in the postseason time and time again. It also put an exclamation mark a 24-year period between the birth of the franchise, the hills and valleys in between, and this moment. And it put to bed a 26-year drought of championships for the 3 major sports teams in this city and giving the other two franchises hope of one day achieving the same feat.
This brings us back to the Leafs, who were one of the many local teams showing their support throughout the run. Like the Raptors were a few years ago, the Leafs are an up-and-coming team that is looking to go deeper into spring and get their hands on the trophy that has eluded them for years.
The arch that got them there isn’t quite the same, and the same can be said for getting to the ultimate destination. But in between, there’s a lot the Leafs can learn from their roommates in what it takes to be a champion. It can be summarized in three key points:
- Experience in the playoffs is critical for long-term success,
- Only make a bold move when absolutely necessary and,
- It takes a full team effort, regardless of the circumstances or any obstacles, to win.
Experience is king
As mentioned earlier, the Raptors’ run to the title was the cultivation of a six-year run as one of the NBA’s top teams. It’s not like they came from out of nowhere this year and made a shocking run to the Finals and knock off the powerhouse Warriors.
This is a team that experienced heartbreaks galore throughout those six years and throughout their history. From Vince Carter missing the final shot to send the Raptors to the ECF in 2001, to Kyle Lowry getting his shot blocked by Paul Pierce at the buzzer, to all the years of LeBron James toying with the city of Toronto, this franchise and their fanbase had been accustomed to nothing but pain and misery for many years.
Do you know who else experienced this same heartbreak for decades before finally reaching the mountaintop? The St. Louis Blues, who just recently ended their 52-year drought with a win over the Boston Bruins. And just last year, the Washington Capitals accomplished the same feat while also putting end to all the jokes that have come at their expense.
Very rarely do teams know what it takes to win it all on their first try; sports are simply too difficult and competitive for that to become the case. To learn how to win, a team needs to experience heartbreak and digest tough losses on the big stage.
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Experience in these moments is critical because eventually the lessons learned will be put to good use and a team can go on a run that fans will never forget.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs, they are only entering their fourth year with this new nucleus intact and have experienced a few lessons in that span. They took a President Trophy winners as far as they could while playing in five overtimes in year 1.
The following two years saw them facing against the Bruins twice and going all the way to Game 7 before losing their season in heartbreaking fashion.
This past season alone saw the team in uncharted territory as they had a 3-2 advantage for the first time and was forced to learn what not to do with a chance to close out an opponent.
The Leafs have been through quite a bit but it’s ultimately not enough. This is a team that still has a lot to learn and needs more experience in order to go deeper into spring. And that’s ok, it takes time before it all comes together.
Go bold when necessary
Nearly a year ago, the Raptors made the most important trade in franchise history by acquiring Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green in exchange for beloved star DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a draft pick. It goes without saying that had this move not taken place, there would likely be a different team winning the 2019 NBA Finals.
This transaction is significant because it was a result of Masai Ujiri going bold to make a major shakeup to the roster that appeared to be stagnant in their push for a title. He could have kept the status quo and hope for a different result, but he made a big gamble by making this trade and also firing Dwayne Casey a month prior. It was a massive risk and it ultimately paid off in the end.
Along with the trade for Marc Gasol, these were all bold moves by a man ready to push all the chips to the table and risk everything after playing it safe for years. This year felt like a do-or-die one for the core so it makes sense why these moves transpired.
The 2018-19 Raptors is something that Kyle Dubas is going to take to heart because he’s learned there’s a time and a place to go bold. Ujiri didn’t make these moves because he was bored, he did what he felt was best for the franchise and help it get over the hump.
It’s why not firing Mike Babcock after this season was the right choice for Dubas to make. Because there’s a difference between bold and reckless, and doing that could have easily fallen into the latter category. It would also be short-sided to trade a key player on the roster (say, William Nylander) prematurely without giving the core a chance to try and make an impact.
It could be argued that signing John Tavares nearly one-year ago was bold, but it was a move that made sense and helped bolster the already loaded forward core. A bold move, instead, would be making a big trade for top-pairing defender fans have been longing for (ex: P.K. Subban).
Dubas is control of the team’s daily operation and is going to do what’s best for this franchise because that’s what a good G.M. does. And that extends to when it comes to making a bold transaction to help the team out in a massive way. Because there is a time and a place to do it, and making said move prematurely would be reckless.
Team effort wins titles
It seems cliche to suggest, but in sports, it remains tried and true to have a full team effort in order to win a championship. While in basketball there’s a bigger reliance on winning with a few strong players carrying the load, everyone needs to pull their weight in order for a title to become a reality.
Sure, Leonard was the biggest reason the Raptors reached the top of the basketball by playing the role of hero time and time again. But Lowry also did his part, as did Gasol, Green, Serge Ibaka, Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell, and Pascal Siakam among others to help make it possible.
In the series-deciding game, Lowry had a dominating performance in the first quarter, Siakam was effective at both ends of the floor, VanVleet made key shots when he needed to, and Ibaka, Green, and Gasol did their part on the defensive end to keep the Warriors in check.
All this on a night where Leonard wasn’t his usual dominant self. Everyone on the roster came through in the biggest game and as a result, they are now the champions.
This lesson easily applies to the Toronto Maple Leafs because, in these playoffs, part of the reason the team couldn’t advance was that not everyone was pulling their weight. Auston Matthews was a man on a mission and put the team on his back, but the same can’t really be said for Patrick Marleau, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares among others.
Morgan Rielly was strong on the offensive end while the Jake Muzzin-Nikita Zaitsev pairing neutralized the Patrice Bergeron a lot, but the likes of Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott weren’t at their best because of the injuries they were recovering from. Frederik Andersen played masterfully in the first six games but fell apart in the deciding game with two goals he would love to have back.
If not everyone on the roster is at their sharpest and doing there in the big games, then it is extremely difficult, borderline impossible, for them to go deep in the playoffs and have a shot at glory.
Regardless of the circumstances in place (whether that be injuries or a Nazem Kadri suspension), each player has to play their part in ensuring their team wins.
So as the Raptors begin their summer of celebrations for a monumental moment in franchise history, the Toronto Maple Leafs can take some lessons from the run that made it possible. Experience is important, go bold when necessary, and a team effort makes winning more possible.
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If the Toronto Maple Leafs want to have that moment for their own, then following those steps could be really helpful in their quest back to the top of the hockey world. Until then, they will need to take notes in preparation for another chance to be on the right side of history.