The Toronto Raptors lost a tight, frustrating, dispiriting game to the Chicago Bulls on Monday night. The game also included what will likely stand as one of the best moments of the season, with Drake, he of the long-standing and vaguely defined Global Ambassadorship with the franchise, making a tangible on-court impact.
The Raptors had played poorly for most of the night but were making a late comeback, cutting a 13-point fourth-quarter lead down to three with 25 seconds to play. The Bulls called a timeout, made the usual offense-defense substitution, and handed the ball to Justin Holiday to inbound. Perhaps shook from their turnover eight seconds prior, the Bulls came out of their timeout looking scattered. Holiday struggled to find an open lane, and the referee eventually called a five-second inbound violation, turning the ball back over to the Raptors.
It was a pretty huge defensive stand for a Raptors team that hadn’t played much defense all night.
That might be because the Raptors got to play the possession six-on-five, with Drake getting right up in Holiday’s ear throughout the (quick) five seconds.
Look, if this happened against the Raptors, everyone would lose their marbles about it. It’s one step removed from Erik Spoelstra’s patented sideline closeouts on 3-point shooters. Drake doesn’t physically interfere, but he’s clearly in Holiday’s kitchen, breaking dishes. Was he threatening to steal Holiday’s girl? Trash-talking him about being the lesser brother? Crooning to him? We’ll never know, but whatever Drake did, it worked.
It was awesome.
Sadly, the one person Drake couldn’t stop is Doug McDermott, and, well, real recognize real, right?
The big question from all of this, though, is whether or not I could pull off that jacket?
