All of the pieces seemed to fall in place for former St. Albert mayor Nolan Crouse to end up bearing witness to the game that changed Canadian basketball history.
When the Toronto Raptors were defeated in Game 5 of the National Basketball Association Finals against the Golden State Warriors, Crouse already happened to be in California 180 kilometres away at the 2019 U.S. Open Championship with his sons Curtis and Dalen.
“The minute Toronto had got defeated in Game 5, we went online, so we probably got (tickets) as cheap as you’d get them,” he said, about finding tickets for Game 6 of the 2019 NBA finals.
“We heard in the parking lot there were tickets going for $10,000 each.”
Crouse snagged three for $600 each and the Raptors fans were soon on their way to Oakland for the June 13 tip off.
From the arena parking lot into the arena, camaraderie amongst Raptors fans was strong, Crouse said, and whenever they bumped into other fans, excited high-fives were exchanged.
“It was a true high-spirited, fun environment both in the concourse and making our way through,” he said.
Crouse described the atmosphere within the arena as electric, due to the high stakes and the extremely close nature of the game.
He added a big moment of the game was when Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry came out hard in the beginning, scoring 11 points in under two minutes of the first quarter.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh’.”
Emotions were also high when Golden State Warriors player Klay Thompson was injured and left the court, then came back for a couple minutes before leaving again. Later, he was diagnosed with a torn ACL.
However, the final minute of the game was the real nail-biter of the evening, and was drawn out for about 10 minutes, Crouse said. He added both teams’ fans alternated between fearing loss and hopeful excitement and back again.
“That last minute was very wild,” he said. “You could tell it was true for both sides ... you could see gasping and everything was going on there in that last minute.”
When the clock finally ran out and the Raptors were officially the first Canadian NBA team to win the championship, Crouse said his immediate priority was high-tailing it for the courtside party, which was so loud Crouse said it was impossible to hear the interviews.
It was at this moment Crouse managed to snap a photo with the Toronto Raptors’ superfan, Nav Bhatia, famously known for attending every Raptors game since the team’s inception in 1995.
Crouse added he felt proud as a Canadian to see the Raptors take home the championship title.
“That one’s kind of special, simply in certainly the whole experience across Canada through the whole series brought Canada together,” he said. “I was proud to be there.”
