From Kawhi’s buzzer-beating shot to the NBA Finals: it’s been a wild month for Toronto Raptors fans

As Raptors fans prepare for Game 5 against the Golden State Warriors and a possible NBA Championship, it’s hard to believe almost a month has passed since Kawhi Leonard’s buzzer-beating shot.

It’s been a wild 29 days since the shot that changed everything, and no matter what the outcome of the final series, May 12, 2019, is a day that will live in Toronto sports history.

The shot, the buzzer, the dead silence at Scotiabank Arena and the seemingly slow-motion bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce… swoosh.

Doubtful faces in the crowd erupted into deafening cheers, while the usually poker-faced Leonard let his emotions out as teammates swarmed him.

According to NBA Canada, an average of 2.2 million viewers watched the Raptors eliminate the 76ers from the playoffs.

It was a turning point for basketball in Toronto and Canada.

Jump to Game 1 of the NBA Finals versus the Golden State Warriors, and Sportsnet reported a then-record audience of 3.3 million viewers, not including French broadcast numbers.

TSN (owned by Bell Media) announced on Monday that their broadcast of Game 4 had a record average audience of about 4.6 million viewers and reached a total of about 10.2 million Canadians.

These numbers include viewers from TSN, CTV2 and the French language RDS, but did not include people watching the American feed.

Sportsnet and TSN have split the Raptors’ broadcast schedule in Canada.

And while many fans have been watching at home, thousands across the GTA and Canada have been attending viewing parties modelled after Toronto’s Jurassic Park.

There are now 38 cities in Canada hosting viewing parties, 21 of which are in the GTA.

If you’ve debated attending the games in person, you’ve likely come face-to-face with astronomical ticket prices, the highest in Toronto sports history.

As of 1:20 p.m., the most expensive Game 5 tickets on StubHub were fetching a cool $62,622 each, while the cheapest came in at $1,439. This is a 600 per cent increase from comparable tickets pre-76ers win.

The value of the team is also increasing according to some experts, who now estimate it’s worth at $1.8 billion, versus the $1.7 billion Forbes estimated in February 2019.

“Strength in numbers” is the Warriors motto, but it looks like the Raptors may be stealing that as swiftly as they stole Game 3 and 4 in Oakland.

Sportsnet and CityTV will be broadcasting Game 5 tonight at 9:00 p.m.