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“I think it’s an awesome thing that they’re one game away from getting there and competing for championships. So it’s pretty exciting.”

Perhaps, for him, not nearly as exciting as staying up all night dreaming up new Xs and Os ahead of Sunday’s pre-season opener against the visiting B.C. Lions, but the rest of the nation will spend Saturday evening focused on the Raptors as they host the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 6 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday (6:30 p.m.).

Including many of Maas’s players.

“Honestly, I was so happy after the game, because we’ve never been here before,” Eskimos receiver Natey Adjei said of Toronto’s 105-99 win Thursday. “Like, one game away from the finals? I never thought I would ever be saying that about the Raptors.

“Even after we got Kawhi, we were like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to be good,’ but one game from the finals? It’s unbelievable.”

Adjei is from Toronto, but says the best thing about the Raptors is you don’t need to be in order to cheer for the Raptors. Canadians are all, by default, We The North.

“Because there is only one team, right?” Adjei said. “So the whole country can really get behind it.”

Heck, you don’t even have to be a basketball fan to get swept up in Kawhi-nsanity (OK, maybe that one doesn’t work this time …).

“I was watching with my mother-in-law and I’ve probably never seen her do anything athletic, but we all jumped and were jumping up and down hugging each other,” Adjei said of the four-bounce buzzer beater that won Toronto the previous series. “This is what sports does to people.