Chapter 673

Raptors set a great record in their team's history: the first time they reached the finals.

Born in 1995, the Raptors were born as part of the NBA's overseas expansion program.

As the new army of the league, under the leadership of rookie Damon stadimer, they achieved 21-61 record. Not ideal, but they are not a bullying team. In the regular season, they beat the bulls, the Sonics and the magic, who had the best record at the time.

In 1998, the Raptors won rookie Vince Carter from the warriors on draft night, becoming the biggest contributor for the Raptors to get out of the predicament. In Carter's second year, raptors successfully entered the playoffs. But Carter did not let the Raptors rise completely. The furthest they went was seven games against Iverson's 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2001.

In 2003, the Raptors won power forward Chris Bosh. With the Raptors continuing to miss the playoffs in 2003-04 and sending Vince Carter to the New Jersey Nets midway through the 2004-05 season, the team began to rebuild with Chris Bosh as the core.

The Raptors didn't change much in the next two seasons. It wasn't until 2007 that they finally returned to the playoffs. Led by Chris Bosh, the Raptors won their first division championship 47-35 and entered the playoffs with third place in the East. It was also the first non US team to win the division title. However, in the playoffs, they were eliminated by the nets 4-2 in the first round.

2010 is the beginning of a difficult period for the Raptors. With the departure of core player Chris Bosh, Andrea bagnani will become the new core of the team, and the Raptors will stay in the Lotto for a long time.

Until Derozan grew up and Lori joined, the Raptors finally entered the ranks of the league's strong teams.

Since 2014, they have won the Atlantic division championship year after year. And in the 2015-16 season, broke through the second round of the playoffs and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time.

Unfortunately, like all the Eastern teams of the time, they couldn't get over LeBron James. The 2016 Eastern Conference finals lost 2:4 to the Cavaliers. In 2017, they were swept out by the Cavaliers. In 2018, they didn't even get the chance to fight James.

Although in the 2017-18 season, under the leadership of coach Devon Casey, Double Lance Lori and Derozan, the Raptors achieved 59-23 record in the regular season, ranking first in the East, creating the best regular season record in the team's history. But their performance in the playoffs has lost the trust of the Raptors' management.

So, in the summer of 2018, they replaced coach Devon Casey with Nick Nash. And sent drozan away in exchange for Leonard.

Now it seems that this series of operations of the Raptors have been greatly rewarded. They seized the best opportunity after the old King James left the East and before the new king ascended the throne. They actively changed and constantly strengthened, and finally stood at the top of the East. It took the Raptors 24 years to set such a record, but every game that follows, they are setting records.

It's not just Raptors who set records. Their opponents are also creating records one by one.

Oklahoma thunder came to the finals for the third time after beating the warriors to win the Western championship. In this league, there are 16 teams that can make it to the finals in a row. If you separate them from the Seattle supersonic, thunder is the 17th. But there are only six teams that can win two consecutive titles. The Celtics, the Lakers, the pistons, the bulls, the rockets and the heat. Better than the Spurs and warriors, they didn't make it.

Now, thunder is expected to be the seventh. That's what they've been fighting for this season.

The championship has a huge attraction for any team. Almost all the teams are working on it. A team with enough strength will naturally work hard to get a better place, gain home advantage in the playoffs, and then reach the finals round by round. Just like thunder, set a goal at the beginning and strive hard. The teams with insufficient strength either obtain high ranking draft rights by playing bad, or chase big stars in the free market, or actively operate and trade their favorite players.

Whether it's singing or accumulating in silence, everyone's goal is the championship. But every season, there is only one finals. There is only one team that can reach the top. Thunder has experienced that, and they want more. Raptors have never experienced that kind of taste, but it must be their dream taste. No matter who laughs to the end, they will become the creators of great historical records.

Regardless of the team as a whole, the players on both sides are also creating their own historical records.

Leonard has already won the championship in San Antonio and won the fmvp of that year. If Raptors beat thunder this year, Leonard is likely to win fmvp. He will be another player who can conquer the league in both the East and West. In this way, his historical status will be greatly improved. At the same time, the impact on his career is also huge. You know, Leonard's current contract has only one year left, and he has no tendency to complete the renewal with raptors. Once he enters the free market with two championships and two fmvp achievements, countless teams will join in the pursuit of him, and at the same time, it will attract many players and even stars fighting for the championship.Players like Lori, Ibaka and Pau Gasol will create their own career records and become Championship players with raptors.

If thunder defends the title successfully, all players' income is also very big. In this league, there are not many players who have won the championship, and even fewer have won two championships. As the leading star of the team, Westbrook led the team to win two consecutive titles, and had the opportunity to win three consecutive titles to establish a dynasty. This is a great bonus for his promotion in the history of the thunder team and even the promotion of the historical status of the entire NBA.

For ANLO, winning more titles at the beginning of his career will allow him to grow faster and accumulate capital. Whether he will stay in Oklahoma or go away in the future, these capitals will be a great help to him.

The glory of the team and personal achievements are always the goal of the league's stars. No one will be humble. Everyone wants to make history.

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