Raptors Uprising inspired by Toronto NBA success
Caption: The Raptors were dancing for joy after their 4-2 NBA Championship win. Image by Adam Lazzarato CC BY 2.0
Recently, the eyes of the sporting world have been turned to basketball, where the action has switched back and forth between San Francisco and Canada as the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors fought it out for the sport’s biggest prize. Although they were firm favourites to win the NBA from the start, after winning three of the last four titles, a historic comeback from 3-1 down was not to be for Golden State. They finally went down 4-2 to the first Canadian winners of a major North American tournament since the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993.
The Raptors’ first title in their 24 year history has inspired more than just their huge fan-base in the South Canadian city. Their success has also provided inspiration for their own NBA2K team – Raptors Uprising. The same week that the Raptors sealed their famous victory, the Uprising took the momentum from the court onto the screen to finish a closely fought 54-50 game against another Californian side, Lakers Gaming from Los Angeles.
A Ticket to ride for the Uprising
The match was the first round of the season’s third and final tournament, The Ticket, held at Full Sail University’s Fortress Arena in Orlando, Florida. This elimination tournament has everything to play for by the 21 teams competing, because it not only comes with a $240,000 prize purse, but also gains the winner automatic entry into the post season. With the Uprising struggling to keep their regular season alive, victory in Orlando could make all the difference.
It certainly worked for the New York based Nicks Gaming team in last year’s inaugural season. Finishing third from last in the regular season, they were far from making the playoffs until they picked up the 2018 Ticket trophy, and the post season place, on home turf in New York. Outsiders and underdogs they may have been, but that didn’t stop them from going on to win the first ever NBA2K championship off the back of it.
Blending esports with physical sports
The NBA2K league has all the trappings of the physical game, from a draft where each team gets to select their roster for the coming season, to the ownership of the teams themselves. Every team in the NBA2K league is owned by an NBA franchise, with Toronto Uprising part of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. That’s the same group as the Toronto Raptors NBA side, along with the city’s other big names, the Toronto Blue Jays from Major League Baseball and MLS side Toronto FC.
The Raptors Uprising are part of the Maple Leaf Sports empire. Image by Secondarywaltz [Public domain] CC0
Training hard
The Uprising team take their role very seriously, putting in long hours to refine their skills. Uprising Point Guard, Frederick Mendoza, known simply as Doza, explains the routine: “We come in early and we work late, day in, day out,” he says. “We are all about hard work.” Just like a live game team, the Uprising watch back and analyse previous games and do thorough research to try to identify areas where they can improve and weaknesses they can exploit in their opponents.
Uprising Centre, Seanquai Harris, known as Kingquai614, agrees, telling CBC Toronto how inspired the team have been by the Raptors success. “The energy in the city is amazing and we translate that into NBA2K all the time,” he says. “We’re going to use this energy from the Raptors to turn our season around.”
They certainly couldn’t ask for a better role model. The Toronto Raptors were a long way from being favourites for the NBA Championship at the start, but they managed to maintain the self-belief they needed to make it all the way to the finals and win. If the Uprising can draw on that, and follow the same path, they could be set for great things this season.