If you have even cursory interest in the Toronto Raptors, you’ll likely know about Nav Bhatia.

But you’ll know him by his alias: “The Superfan.”

Bhatia has hollered and gesticulated his way through the Raptors’ sensational playoff run this spring, always visible from his courtside perch at the Air Canada Centre. He claims to have never missed a home game and spends more than $300,000 per year on tickets. But more than anything, the 65-year-old car dealership owner sees his role as an ambassador for the Sikh community, and believes basketball is a powerful tool to bring people together.

The Raptors beat LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday night to tie the series at 2-2. Would you say that was one of their biggest wins ever?

It was the most important game of our franchise history. I tell you, I’m getting old and I’m draining a lot of energy on this, and draining a lot of money on it. The longer the series goes, the broker I’m going to be. Because playing the way we are playing, we might be going to the finals. I’ve gone for 21 years, every minute — never missed a single minute of a game; never left a game early. This is a dream come true for me. But it’s the dream of millions of people who are enjoying this journey of win after win.

You’re going to Cleveland for Game 5 on Wednesday on a private jet, is that right? And you’ll be sitting courtside?

That’s the plan. (A friend) is flying me in his personal jet. It is very cool. His kids really love me as the Superfan. I met him two months ago. I didn’t know him; I took a picture with his kids. And then the father approached me and said, “My kids really love you,” and we became friends. All of a sudden he invites me in his plane . . . He owns a big corporation in Toronto.

Where do you think that comes from, this feeling of attachment to this team and this sport?

In ’84, I came here when the anti-Sikh riots were happening in India . . . I was lucky enough to get a visa, and as a family we came here. I’m a mechanical engineer by education, but at that time, nobody wanted a guy with a turban and a beard. I didn’t get an opportunity for that, so (after an estimated 300 job interviews) I started working as a car salesman. And in the first three months, I sold 127 cars, which was a record then, and it still is a record. So I became a manager then general manager.

When the Raptors came in ’95, I bought two tickets, because I could only afford two. Now I have 10 seats — I have six courtsides and four platinum seats and once a year I buy thousands of kids tickets to the game. It’s very expensive, it’s over $300,000. So, I’m an addict. Even my wife calls me an addict. My daughter calls me psycho. And I am. I guess when it comes to basketball, I am a psycho. I’m proud of it. Because it lets me reach out to the kids, it gives me the opportunity to connect my community, the South Asians and especially the Sikhs, to the mainstream through the game of basketball.

And how do you do that?

In ’99, I was made the Superfan by (former Raptors executive) Isiah Thomas. He brought me to centre court and said, starting today, this guy will be the superfan because he’s made most of the noise in the past four years. But a little later, one day I was going in my nicely dressed-up suit as the general manager and president of an auto company, Mississauga Hyundai. And I went to fix my cellphone, and this Caucasian guy, I overheard him saying, “Honey, I have to go, my cab is here.” I guess he assumed I was a taxi driver, because I wear a turban and I have a beard. But I didn’t get upset at him, because it was not his fault. It’s the fault of our own people — Sikh people, the religious leaders, the community leaders who haven’t done enough to integrate Sikhs into the mainstream. Yes, we are different looking, we are different, but our passions are the same.

At that time, I decided, I’m going to buy 3,000 tickets and bring young Sikhs and all the other people in the community to the game of basketball so they don’t have to go through what I went through. That’s how my passion started to integrate the community.

What’s it like becoming a celebrity through being a fan?

I don’t consider myself a celebrity. I just think that I’m blessed that I’m able to represent my community and that I’m able to represent my city and I’m able to represent my country. I’m a proud Canadian. I do generally believe that if there’s a heaven on this Earth, it’s right here in Canada, because it’s given me all kinds of opportunities. I just like to integrate with people . . . Referees usually come shake hands with me before the game. The players, the coaches, they shake hands with me and hug me, because they all know that this crazy guy loves basketball, he loves the ballers, and he loves to unite and make the world a better place with the game of basketball.

Your prediction for the rest of this series?

There’s a lot of basketball left. And we are playing a better team than ours. We have all-stars, they have superstars on their team. But we have guys with bigger hearts on our team, and sometimes the big hearts take over the superstardom. They left us for dead when we lost the first two games, and the way we lost them, but now, what we showed is that we can fight it out . . . . Whoever wins the first road game, is going to win the series.

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