It’s been a few days since Kawhi Leonard took an inbound pass from Marc Gasol and b-lined straight to the opposite corner of the court right in front of the Raptors bench and hit the biggest shot of his career and of this franchise’s history. I still can’t really believe that it happened. There are so many aspects that make it so hard to grasp.

A) The difficulty of the shot was beyond belief. Where he took the shot from, the speed he was moving at, the fading out of bounds, the double team before getting the shot off and the 7 foot 3 center lunging at him trying to block it. Doesn’t sound like a good shot selection and doesn’t sound like anyone should ever be able to make that shot. However, Kawhi knew the spot he needed to get to and got there.

B) The bounces. 4 BOUNCES. That’s what it took for the ball to finally find its way into the bottom of the hoop. Never in my life has two seconds felt longer than it did when the ball was rattling back and forth deciding whether or not it wanted to fall.

C) What it means for the franchise. Kawhi is easily the most talented player the Raptors have ever had and they may only have him for this one season. It felt like the Raptors future was on the line with that shot and the friendly bounces have given the team and its fans at least another four games to try to win over Kawhi.

D) The lead up to it was a fantastically nerve-racking stretch of basketball. If you are a fan of good basketball, especially good defence, watch the last two minutes of game seven over and over. There were three straight possessions the Raptors forced Philly to turn the ball over. Two were shot clock violations and one was a Lowry steal leading to an impressive layup on the other end for Pascal Siakam. A little less enjoyable was the free throw Kawhi Leonard missed which lead to the Jimmy Butler layup to tie the game up at 90 with four seconds to go. That shot doesn’t happen if everything, good and bad, doesn’t line up the way it did.

I was at the game and I’ve watched videos upwards of 100 times and I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that something good, nay GREAT, happened to the Raptors in the playoffs.