It’s pretty safe to say the Toronto Raptors have rallied the country as they are one win away from their first NBA Title in franchise history.
Game six of the championship series goes tonight in Oakland as the Raptors take on the heavily-favored Golden State Warriors.
Prince George-born basketball player Emily Holmes is entering her fifth and final season this fall with the UNBC Timberwolves and believes a deep playoff run of this magnitude by the lone Canadian NBA franchise can inspire more young kids in the northern capital to pick up a basketball instead of a hockey stick.
“Even here in town seeing the kids wear the player’s jerseys and they want to be more involved with the Timberwolves and they aspire to be some of the players on our local team is pretty cool.”
A lot of the bars in Prince George like the Westwood Pub and the Canadian Brewhouse have been packed to capacity during the final series sending the public into a fever pitch.
Even though there isn’t a local player on the Raptors roster, Holmes believes the public has a sense of pride and an overall interest that hasn’t been matched at any point during the Raptors 24-year existence in the NBA.
“It kind of makes it feel a little more close to home being the only Canadian team competing against all of those American teams and it really feels like one of those things that unify the country. I know we have always had hockey but this is really great for improving the love of basketball in our country.”
Holmes has even noticed an uptick in kids signing up to play basketball at the grassroots level in Prince George.
“Our numbers have been going up a bit and the kids are showing up to training in a Raptors jersey. They just want to be Kawhi (Leonard), they just want to be Kyle Lowry and they are trying new and fancy moves because they want to be like them so I think it does inspire the kids.”
Tip-off for game six is at 6 pm Pacific Time.