https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQhScKUXxi4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQa-ddVX418
Stanley Johnson helps Raptors stop Luka Doncic, Mavericks – The Athletic
That Anunoby can, and frequently did, toggle up and guard the 7-foot Porzingis effectively just underlines his value.
“OG and Stanley took the challenge and worked at it,” Nurse said. “They really worked at it all night, they were just constantly there applying pressure, and I give them both credit. They’re similar builds and they’ve got the strength and some foot speed and things like that. And most of the thing is desire, and I think they both played with desire all night.”
“I always admired Toronto from afar,” Johnson said earlier in the week about his decision to join the Raptors two offseasons ago. “Obviously, everybody says I look like OG, so obviously knowing OG and having a relationship with him, I’ve always seen how he’s gotten better and seen how they play him, just from afar. I’m on the other team watching him saying, ‘This is kinda cool.’”
Johnson has shared the floor with Anunoby in 75 of his 162 minutes this season, and as Johnson pointed out, it’s going to be a problem. In addition to having similar builds, the two have similar haircuts, and, with Johnson wearing No. 5 and Anunoby wearing No. 3, they are similar-looking enough as muscular blurs on a television screen. The two should make some sort of bet, with the loser having to shave his head or at least wear a headband.
With Johnson’s poor start and injuries, this was not a problem last season. Now, the two are good enough to share the floor. In the fourth quarter, Johnson hounded Doncic full court, and Doncic swung his forearm, connecting with Johnson’s chin. Johnson and Doncic exchanged a few words at the next whistle, with VanVleet picking up a technical foul, at least partially in his teammate’s defence.
“I definitely appreciated it because, you know, Freddy, he’s got the ends to make sure that’s taken care of,” Johnson said.
When a member of the team’s core is picking up the on-court tab for your grievances, you know you’ve gained some trust.
10 things: Raptors frustrate Luka Doncic to earn their first blowout win of the season – Yahoo!
Three — Tenacity: The most important moment of the game came in the fourth quarter. Doncic had been frustrated all night, and had Stanley Johnson pressing him full court from his own baseline. Doncic threw a sly elbow into Johnson’s chest to create separation, but there was no call. When he got to half, Doncic subtly shoved Johnson with his off hand, and again there was no call. Johnson pressed right into Doncic the entire way and Doncic was fortunate to keep possession after losing his dribble off Johnson’s foot. Fred VanVleet argued on Johnson’s behalf and was assessed a technical. Going the other way, Doncic’s assignment was Johnson in the corner, but the Slovenian declined to close out and opted to wave off the threat instead, only Johnson calmly drained the corner three to bring the Raptors’ lead to 16 points. Johnson continues to deliver as a defensive stopper off the bench, and his physicality and tenacity gives the Raptors the luxury of being versatile on defense.
Raptors contain Doncic, build momentum in sustainable win over Mavericks – Sportsnet
It was a team effort, led by Kyle Lowry who finished with 23 points on nine shots and added nine rebounds and seven assists. But Anunoby — who also played long minutes on Doncic — had 13 points and 11 rebounds while Chris Boucher came off the bench and added 21 and 10 rebounds. Norman Powell had 17 points on 11 shots off the bench.
The Raptors led 81-72 to start the fourth quarter and never stopped rolling as they held the Mavericks to 38 per cent shooting and forced 16 turnovers to improve to 5-8 on the season.
The Mavericks (6-7) have had their own struggles. A year ago they were crafting one of the greatest offensive seasons in league history as they put up 115.9 points per 100 possessions. They haven’t quite picked up where they left off, coming into Monday with the league’s 18th-rated attack at 108.7 points per 100 — behind the Raptors who were 15th at 110.4 points per 100.
Part of that was their superstar and likely MVP candidate Doncic has yet to completely hit his stride offensively as he was shooting just 29 per cent from three and coughing up 4.4 turnovers a game coming in. Dallas is still working to integrate seven-foot-three Kristaps Porzingis, who missed the first nine games of the season recovering from off-season surgery. The Mavericks having to postpone a game due to health-and-safety protocols related to COVID-19 likely hasn’t helped. Porzingis had led Dallas with 23 points and nine rebounds, but the Mavericks had four players — including Canadian men’s national team member Dwight Powell — out for health-and-safety protocols Monday night.
But how long could holding the Mavericks down — or Doncic — last? Just Doncic alone can drive offence like few others. Over his previous three starts, Doncic was averaging 32.7 points, 13 rebounds and 12.3 assists a game.
Maybe it was that Dallas was playing on the second night of a back-to-back or maybe it was the Raptors schemes, but Doncic hit a wall in Tampa.
Stats Rundown: 3 numbers behind the Maverick loss to the Raptors – Mavs Moneyball
0: Number of field goals Tim Hardaway hit
If you saw the game live, it was insanely frustating to watch Tim Hardaway Jr. be bad at basketball. But I’ll bet you didn’t know he set a record for ineptitude and joined his father in the record books. ESPN Stats and Info did the roasting:
Congratulations Tim! Anyhow, the man has no conscience on the floor so it’s likely that he’ll come back next game and shoot fire from his hands and score 35. That’s the Tim Hardaway experience
Kyle Lowry saw it one way, Nick Nurse saw it another. They found middle ground, as they tend to do, and the Raptors were off and running.
Lowry got his way — he was the guy out on the court in the heat of the battle, after all — but the discussion did help spur the Raptors to one of their most thorough games of the year, a 116-93 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night in Tampa.
It’s the kind of collaborative effort good teams get: give and take and what does the other guy see and how will it all work.
“I talked to him at halftime a little bit and was talking about (how) I thought some things I saw could free him up, and he was, ‘Nah, I’m good. I’m seeing some shots, I’m seeing some driving lanes, so I’m good.’
“I think he was just in that zone where he was attacking at the right time, shooting at the right time.”
“Just me and Nick, we go back and forth — not in a bad way, in a good way — and he wants to help me. I had a flow, I had a feel for it tonight, and I knew kind of what we needed.”
Lowry, though, wanted to pass on the accolades for the big third quarter. His 12 points and five rebounds were great, but Pascal Siakam breaking loose for nine of his 19 points turned the game, according to Lowry.
“Pascal started off struggling a little bit, but I think Pascal found a way to get himself going,” Lowry said. “He found a way, got more aggressive, got to the free-throw line and got himself going. That’s the thing that helps everyone else, that helps everyone on our team, when Pascal can find himself going, which he did.
“It kind of made the game easier for everyone.”
Toronto moved to 5-8 on the season. Hardly an earth-shattering record, but three straight victories and about six good games in a row is taking some of the sting away from a dubious start to the season.
Game Recap: Toronto Raptors ride Lowry, defense to 116-93 win over Dallas Mavericks – Raptors HQ
Beyond Lowry, this really was a team effort from the core of the Raptors rotation. Pascal Siakam shook off a poor shooting start to finish with 19 points and five assists. After going just 1-for-7 from the field in the first quarter, Siakam would go 6-for-12 the rest of the game and was another critical part of the Raptors opening things up in the third.
Toronto also got good bench performances from Norman Powell (17 points on 11 shots) and Stanley Johnson, who has steadily become more, well, steady with his defensive presence — taking a crack at several Mavericks in the middle of the Raptors’ schemes in his 21 minutes (effectively the team’s eighth man again).
Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t also talk about sudden Sixth Man of the Year candidate Chris Boucher, who continued a magical run of performances off the pine on Monday. Scoring 21 points and grabbing ten boards, Boucher was once again a hero of plus-minus (and a saving grace from the scoreless Aron Baynes), marking a game-high +19.
Toronto Raptors get back to defensive roots in win over Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavericks – TSN.ca
Nick Nurse’s team threw multiple looks at him throughout the evening, including the box-and-one – the “janky” defensive coverage they famously used on Steph Curry and the Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals. They denied him the ball. They pressured him when he caught it. They switched pick and rolls, so it was a team effort, as Johnson pointed out afterwards, but he and OG Anunoby were given the bulk of the assignment and they executed the game plan to perfection.
“Give those guys, both of ‘em a lot of credit,” Nurse said. “OG and Stanley took the challenge and worked at it. They really worked at it all night, they were just constantly there applying pressure and, again, I give them both credit.
They’re similar builds, and they’ve got the strength and some foot speed, Most of [it] is desire, and I think they both played with desire all night.”
It was the their fifth win of the campaign, and third straight, but it was the first time that the Raptors have actually looked like the Raptors, at least for anything close to 48 minutes. It was the kind of victory they prided themselves on a year ago, a calling card of the team that finished the 2019-20 season with the league’s second-ranked defence and second-best record.
Much of their success was a result of their sophisticated defensive schemes. They would change them up on the fly and tailor their game plans with the opposition’s best player in mind. They were star stoppers. James, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, Joel Embiid, among other elite scorers – some their worst offensive games of the season came against the Raptors’ defence. It was a credit to the team’s coaching staff and preparation, but more than anything else, Toronto had the personnel to pull it off – both in terms of talent and, just as importantly, basketball intellect.
For whatever reason – and there are likely a variety of them – this season’s team has struggled to rediscover that identity. They came into the week ranked 23rd in defence, surrendering 111.1 points per 100 possessions – 6.4 more than they gave up last season. They had shown glimpses of being that elite defensive group, but those flashes were too infrequent and came in short spurts.
Their hope is that Monday’s win can be the start of a resurgence on that end of the floor. If nothing else, it should have reinforced why defence remains Nurse’s priority.
Raptors get well-rounded effort for most complete win of the year | Toronto Sun
The job was a total team effort with OG Anunoby and Fred VanVleet taking turns when the starters were on the floor and then once Stanley Johnson got into the game off the bench and showed he could do the job on Doncic, he got extended minutes on him.
“Give those guys, both of ’em a lot of credit, OG and Stanley took the challenge and worked at it,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said. “They really worked at it all night, they were just constantly there applying pressure and, again, I give them both credit. They’re similar builds and they’ve got the strength and some foot speed and things like that and most of the thing is desire and I think they both played with desire all night.”
Johnson was so good at frustrating Doncic that the future MVP lost his cool all together at one point and swung a rather dangerous looking elbow at Johnson’s head.
The nasty move went undetected by the officials who responded when Fred VanVleet complained about it by giving VanVleet a technical.
The Raptors got the last laugh though as the next time down the floor they engineered a wide open three for Johnson, who calmed drained it.
For the game Doncic was limited to just 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, a complete game by any other standards but an off night for Doncic.
Lowry meanwhile, as he so often is, was the man who set the pace and eventually dragged everyone along with him.
The Raptors’ point guard finished with a team-best 23 points, seven assists and nine rebounds. Pascal Siakam, who started slowly picked things up in the second half and finished with 19 points and five assists.
NBA Power Rankings – Where the James Harden trade sends the Brooklyn Nets – ESPN
This Week: 19
Previous ranking: 20
2020-21 record: 4-8Toronto finally got itself headed in the right direction with a pair of nail-biting victories over the Hornets this week. If the Raptors had been able to do anything short of disaster in close games over the first few weeks of the season, they’d likely be .500 or better. Still, Toronto is going to need to get more from centers not named Chris Boucher moving forward. Aron Baynes, in particular (4.3 points per game on 37.5% shooting), has been a disappointment thus far. — Bontemps
NBA Power Rankings: Nets, Clippers rise, plus some guesswork – The Athletic
16. Toronto Raptors (↑Previously 24th), 4-8, -0.8 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Blazers, Win over Hornets, Win over Hornets
What do we like moving forward? They’re winning again, and I think it’s here to stay. Facing the Western Conference hasn’t been kind to the Raptors this season, but we’ve seen the Raptors look immensely better over the last week and a half. They barely lost to Portland, and they barely lost to the Clippers. During these last five games (3-2), Pascal Siakam has looked great with his all-around game. Chris Boucher has been one of the most productive players in the NBA. The team is shooting the ball great from 3-point range (41.6 percent). Raptors may have finally steadied themselves in a season without a home.
Why are they here? Yes, half of their wins this season have come against Charlotte, but I’m impressed with how much better they’ve looked recently. I think the Raptors are trending upward long-term.
This Week: 17
Last Week: 24Toronto dropped a close one to the Blazers, then got two tight, but much-needed “home” wins over the Hornets in Tampa to close out the week. The defense is still struggling, but the offense did enough to win as the Raptors made a combined 41 3-pointers in the two wins against Charlotte. Chris Boucher has continued to be a revelation off the bench, averaging 21.7 points, nine rebounds and 2.3 blocks this week, while Norman Powell tied a career high with six 3-pointers on Saturday.
Power Rankings, Week 5: Lakers, Bucks hold top spots before matchup this week | NBA.com
This Week: 17
Last Week: 24 ↑Record: 4-8
Pace: 101.0 (14) OffRtg: 110.3 (14) DefRtg: 111.1 (22) NetRtg: -0.8 (16)In their two-game series against the Hornets, the Raptors were outscored, 90-56, in the paint. But they’ve really been chuckin’ ’em from deep, taking more than half of their shots from 3-point range and making at least 40% of their 3-pointers in each of their last three games. Even before those three games, they led the league in the percentage of their shots that came from 3-point range. Now (at 49.3%) they’re seemingly on the path to being the first team outside of Houston to take more than half its shots from beyond the arc over a full season.
Chris Boucher (15-for-26 from deep over the last six games) has been one of the Raptors lighting it up. Doing a lot more than shooting 3-pointers, he leads the league in effective field goal percentage (minimum 100 field goal attempts) and is looking like a real Sixth Man of the Year candidate thanks to the token minutes that coach Nick Nurse has been giving his starting center (Alex Len or Aron Baynes). The Raptors have outscored their opponents by 6.9 points per 100 possessions with Boucher on the floor and by 17.0 per 100 in 75 total minutes with Pascal Siakam at the five.
The defensive numbers with Siakam at center are particularly good, but the overall defense (more than 110 points allowed per 100 possessions in seven of their last eight games) still isn’t where it needs to be as the Raptors take their first winning streak into a 10-day stretch — six games against the Mavs, Heat (x2), Pacers (x2) and Bucks — that could really make or break their season.
Fred VanVleet’s offensive growth could stabilize Raptors – The Athletic
Becoming a deeper threat has always been a likely part of VanVleet’s growth. The Raptors would like to see the percentage trend upward still, even as more of those shots come further behind the 3-point line. It’s a defence-bending weapon, and its threat opens up a lot more for VanVleet in two areas he’s also still growing: Attacking the paint and passing in pick-and-roll.
VanVleet’s finishing has been a frequent conversation the last year or so. During the league stoppage, I broke it down in great detail, calling it the single biggest determinant of what surplus value he might deliver on his next deal. When he signed for four years and $85 million, it was locked in as a swing skill to take that contract from neutral to surplus value.
That remains a work in progress. VanVleet has pushed back on the idea he’s a poor finisher, joking that the continued criticism will keep fueling him to get better. He looks at tape, other finishers, analytics and more to try to improve in that regard. And perplexingly, VanVleet does make a lot of really tough finishes. Without looking at the numbers, you might think he’s improved at the rim this year, because he so often makes highlight-worthy scoop shots or falling layups. In reality, VanVleet is actually finishing worse at the rim this year. He was already a bottom-10 finisher in the league the last three seasons, and now he’s shooting just 48 percent there, his worst mark yet.
“All I keep reading about is how terrible I am at finishing at the rim, so it might be a little bit of stuff for me to work on there a little more,” he said two weeks back. “But it’s a process, man. I said that from my rookie year that it’s going to take time and I’ll keep getting at it.”
There is an additional cost to missing at the rim. Per data from PBP Stats, missed layups result in the second-highest points per-possession for the opponent on the ensuing possession of any play type. Only live-ball turnovers give the opponent a better chance to score the other way. And as The Athletic’s Seth Partnow has noted, blocked shots at the rim are even more detrimental to the transition defence. That is a concern with VanVleet, as he’s already been blocked 14 times this year. That he tends to fall down on a lot of those shots further exacerbates the issue — the Raptors allow a league-average 108.9 points per possession after a miss at the rim and that spikes to 120.8 when they’re blocked at the rim. (That isn’t just a VanVleet issue, to be clear, but he leads the team in such plays.)
If VanVleet isn’t actually finishing better, what’s driving the improved play inside the arc? It’s everywhere outside the rim area where VanVleet’s taken a step forward. As suggested in July, VanVleet has the combination of touch, jump-shot quality and tempo change to become more of a weapon in the midrange and in that shorter floater range deeper in the paint where many smaller guards live.
Toronto Raptors rotation: Who is in, out of Nick Nurse’s doghouse? – Yahoo!
In: Stanley Johnson
After playing in just 25 games all of last season (shoutout to his game-winner in the bubble against Philadelphia, which is in conversation for top-100 moments in Raptors franchise history), Johnson has appeared in 10 of the 12 games already this season. The 24-year-old (Raptors development prospect alert!) has played well enough on defence to stick in the rotation, coming up with multiple huge possessions down the stretch in Saturday’s win over Charlotte. The offence is lacking, but if you want some promising small sample sizing, Johnson did shoot 4-for-5 from 3 in two wins over the Hornets. I’m not sure what it says about the Raptors, but Johnson has been a bright spot so far.
OG for three is just part of what the Raptors see in Anunoby on offence | The Star
That’s going to be the secret to more scoring from Anunoby, because the Raptors aren’t going to go looking intentionally to get him going. The team’s offence is, for the most part, equal opportunity; they will not seek out a specific player just to let them score.
“The way that we play, and the way we have always played, is we’ve just got to stay in tune with the game and take what the defence gives you,” VanVleet said.
Anunoby’s primary responsibility will, unquestionably, be on defence. He’s able to guard almost every position and with Toronto playing smallish lineups more often than not these days, the six-foot-seven Anunoby has to check much bigger, stronger centres and power forwards for long stretches. He’s adept at that and it’s why he plays as much as he does, but his offensive development represents the next step in his evolution.
It’s a work in progress and will come when he’s more assertive: getting the ball off the glass or on the perimeter in half-court sets and attacking. If he grabs defensive rebounds and heads up the court with the ball, the Raptors are more effective in transition, where their offensive game thrives.
“A little bit more open floor. Go ahead off rebounds and bring it. Get it into the paint and look to spray,” Nurse said of Anunoby’s expanded role.
But if the three in three-and-D stays as good as it’s been of late, or close to it, anything else will be a huge bonus.
NBA Franchise Valuations: Three Teams Top $5 Billion – Sportico.com
The Warriors’ dynasty—five consecutive finals, including three championships—ended in 2019 with a loss to the Toronto Raptors. Today, those Raptors, buoyed by media and property interests, are valued at $2.55 billion, 10th-highest in the NBA. That is a 59% greater valuation than their entire parent company, which also includes the NHL’s Maple Leafs, Scotiabank Arena and a real estate joint venture, was worth in 2012, when its former majority investor, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, sold its stake. Even more astounding is that this growth has occurred while the Canadian dollar has declined more than 20% relative to the greenback.
Fueling the Raptors’ surge is a national fan base disguised as a local market. When Toronto won the NBA championship two seasons ago, 7.7 million Canadians tuned into the final game. For some perspective, consider that in the United States, with nearly nine times the population, each of the first four games of last October’s Finals between the Lakers and Miami Heat drew fewer than 7.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
The 2-8 Raptors have no reason not to consider trading Lowry if they continue to lose. Aside from the fact that he’s 34 and on an expiring contract, they have the cap space to re-sign him this offseason even after a trade if both sides were interested. For them, dealing Lowry could be as simple as getting assets to give up on the season and trying again in a year.
But moving Lowry comes with its own set of complications, especially after the somewhat callous (albeit correct) decision to trade DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard. Lowry is the most accomplished player in franchise history, He is utterly beloved by Raptors fans, and trading him would likely be even harder on them than the DeRozan deal was as Lowry wouldn’t net a Kawhi-caliber player in return. If Masai Ujiri does decide to deal him, it would likely have to be to a team of Lowry’s choosing to avoid backlash.
That points to Philadelphia, Lowry’s hometown team and a franchise long-considered to be a point guard short of championship contention. Reports linked Lowry to the 76ers when he was a free agent in 2017, and Philadelphia could muster enough salary filler between (former Raptor) Danny Green, Terrance Ferguson and Mike Scott to get a deal done, but what would they give up in terms of value? Are draft picks enough? Maxey is almost certainly off the table. Matisse Thybulle likely is as well.
Beyond the 76ers, there isn’t an obvious fit. Lowry doesn’t need to chase a ring. The Clippers would love to reunite him with Kawhi, but lack the assets and the contracts to make a deal. Miami, like Philadelphia, could be hoarding assets for an eventual Beal pursuit. If Lowry wants a deal, it’s safe to say he can get one. But finding a team that works for both him and the Raptors won’t be easy.
Philadelphia 76ers: 3 reasons to trade for Kyle Lowry – The Sixers Sense
Part of the reason the Sixers should target Lowry is because they lost Harden to the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets themselves have become a legit contender now and as a result, the Sixers need to upgrade their roster.
Brooklyn has Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant and outside of depth at the center position, they are a pretty well-balanced roster with some legit role players. If the Sixers want a chance of getting out of the second round of the playoffs, they need to add an All-Star like Lowry.
Right now, the Sixers don’t have enough offense and shot-creating to even try to keep pace with the Nets. Embiid is an elite player and Shake Milton is starting to come into his own, but players like Tobias Harris, Seth Curry, and Tyrese Maxey can’t be relied upon to be creators in a playoff setting.
Lowry has proven that he is a reliable playoff performer and would be a player the 76ers can turn to finish games and Philly needs that type of player on the roster.
Lowry is an All-Star level player who can help elevate the Philadelphia 76ers to contenders in the East, who fits seamlessly with their two stars, and who is most likely available.
North Star: How Toronto is linked to MLK | Toronto Raptors
The Raptors have played on MLK Days in years past and the NBA has long made it a marquee day on its calendar (five games air nationally in the U.S. on Monday). To some, this year carries a different weight to it, after a tumultuous 2020 that highlighted police brutality and inequality, putting King’s quest for equality and freedom under a microscope. Others will tell you that you’re just starting to get a glimpse of the world as they’ve long seen it.
“This kind of stuff has been happening pretty much the entirety of my whole life,” Raptors forward Stanley Johnson said.
“I’ve always taken…celebrating Black History Month, Martin Luther King Day pridefully. It’s always been a big deal for me and my family, we always take reverence to it. So it will feel no different. It’s kind of sad that it won’t feel any different (this year), because things should be changing a little faster than they are. People shouldn’t feel as uncomfortable as they do to be minorities in our country, day after day, year after year.”
Johnson mentioned what’s fresh in many of our minds, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., an insurrection led by supporters of outgoing U.S. president Donald Trump. Johnson watched in astonishment at the treatment that crowd received in comparison to what Black Lives Matter protesters received all over the U.S. in the summer.
“Every time I feel like we’re at the bottom and there’s only one way up, we find a way to dig ourselves even deeper,” Johnson said. “I don’t know where it’s going to go at this point, to be totally honest. It’s only gotten worse at this point, as to how flagrantly these things have been happening.”
Johnson mentions incremental change, of good people in the world making things 1 per cent better than they were. That step-by-step movement, countered by moments like the murder of George Floyd, or the attack on the Capitol, try to push back on that progress, or at least show how much progress there still is to be made.
“I think the most difficult part is that it’s mentally fatiguing,” Johnson said.
“It takes a certain amount of maturity as a grown adult to not act emotionally about the things that are happening. All of us have family and people that we represent. So if we want change, we also have to act the way we want people to act towards us.
“That means not going back and bringing a fist if someone brings a fist on to you. I think that’s the hardest part is, a lot of us have to be mild-mannered and all this cool stuff while other people are being flagrant about this type of stuff. To me, it’s not really working out. It’s not really working out for us.”
Martin Luther King Day is a day that resonates with the Raptors | The Star
There is, of course, so much work to be done.
Fred VanVleet was asked about MLK Day and whether it held even more meaning in this brutal year than it has in the past and said this:
“Yes and no. I think, obviously, it’s just a testament to how incredible MLK was and how ahead of his time he was and the sacrifices he made for us to be able to do whatever it is he does today, but on the flip side it’s just a reminder that we haven’t made as much progress as we’d like to think we have.
“If I’m not mistaken, somebody was just beaten to death in the capitol the other day with an American flag — that was a story I read online. So a long way to go, man. A long way to go.
“But it’s a day and time for everybody to recognize one of our most incredible leaders that we’ve ever had on this planet, and try to take some of the things that he was about and implement those into our everyday life.”
Well put, no?
The message goes deeper than that, though.
It touches us here, always has, always will, and as we listen to King’s speeches at times today and read about his impact, we cannot get too smug and think, “man, things were and are tough and unfair and dangerous in the States.”
They were and are tough and unfair and dangerous in Canada. Let the messages in the United States today resonate here.
We must treat each others as equals and with dignity and without discrimination. We must call out those who perpetuate racism and hate to make our society a better one in which to live.
It is a lifelong fight, but one that cannot be abandoned, and one that is not nearly over.
