Playoff berth feels like just reward to Raptors

The Toronto Raptors faced obstacles unlike any other NBA franchise last season, roadblocks so unwieldy that Nick Nurse said they were more like "cement walls."

TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors faced obstacles unlike any other NBA franchise last season, roadblocks so unwieldy that Nick Nurse said they were more like “cement walls.”

And so, when the Raptors clinched a playoff berth with Tuesday’s win against Atlanta, it felt like just reward after a 2020-21 season that guard Fred VanVleet said “sapped the soul” of every member on the team.

“It means a lot,” VanVleet said after Tuesday’s win. “We’ve got to just appreciate the journey . . . (we became) a little spoiled, with just expecting the win and excellence it takes to be good every night in this league. That was taken away from us last year, so sitting at home in April and watching the first round of the playoffs when we all felt like we were capable enough to be there stung a little bit.”

The last time Scotiabank Arena hosted playoff basketball was Game 5 of the NBA Finals, a one-point loss to Golden State that was memorable for Kawhi Leonard’s 11-point fourth-quarter outburst and Kevin Durant’s ruptured Achilles tendon.

While Toronto’s playoff opponent likely won’t be known until the regular-season finale on Sunday, the fact the Raptors are hosting playoff games for the first time in three years feels finally like a sense of normalcy for the 2019 NBA champs.

The Raptors were exiled in Tampa, Fla., last season due to border restrictions and health and safety rules in Ontario. Toronto was the only team forced to play outside its market. They hastily constructed a practice facility in the ballroom of a Marriott hotel.

“Everything was so isolated last year. Even the way we sat on the bench, right? You check out of the game and you go sit in the third row of the stands and watch the game from behind a stanchion,” VanVleet said. “You can’t touch anybody. We’re even scared to fist bump. It was weird. Last year was weird every step of the way and this year has felt a little bit more normal.”

The Raptors were still in the thick of the playoff race last season before a COVID-19 outbreak that even took out more than half of the coaching staff pummelled the team in March. They went 1-14 that month, somersaulting down the Eastern Conference standings to finish 12th. It was the first time they’d missed the playoffs in eight years.