A few times a year, the junior Raptors take over Scotiabank Arena and take on one of their NBA League opponents. On December 5th, the 905 squad took on the Greensboro Storm to a mostly full house in Toronto, with the Storm coming back in the 4th quarter to eventually win 116-101. It was an amazing game, and two things really stood out to me in covering this match. The first is that it's a tradition that schools in the Greater Toronto Area make a field trip of these games at Scotiabank Arena (the 11:00 start time helps), and the students just love it. You can see the convoy of buses coming down the QEW before the game, and I've never seen or heard a crowd that is more energetic and enthusiastic. It's basically 100 decibels from start to finish. From a community perspective, this is such a great thing to do. The second thing that really stood out to me is the level of play. From the consistency of the shots from the field, to the defence, to the passing and set plays. This is NBA level basketball and no doubt a number of players on both teams will crack those rosters in the future. Special thanks to Safia Hersi and the team at Raptors 905 for allowing me access to this amazing event.
