Marc Gasol pointed out the importance of team play, as a factor of the Toronto Raptors success, after the departure of Kawhi Leonard last summer.
The Raptors finished with the second-best record in the East, even without a difference-maker like the 2-time MVP in their roster and Gasol explained how it became possible for the team to remain afloat in the Eastern Conference.
“The strength of the team, the beauty of basketball, [is that] this is not tennis,” the Raptors center said to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“We’re not talking about Rafa Nadal or [Novak] Djokovic or Roger Federer – or [Canadian Milos] Raonic. We’re talking about basketball. It’s a team sport. It’s how well you work as a team. It’s a team effort. It always will be. Doesn’t matter how much we try to singularize the game.”
The reigning NBA champions returned from a 2-0 deficit in the EC semifinals versus the Boston Celtics and tonight they will try to take the lead.
A third consecutive win in a hard-fought playoff series will be huge for Toronto, which came back from a 2-0 deficit in the last season’s EC Finals vs the Bucks.
