Raptors delight: Fans in Toronto are all-in on first NBA Finals

TORONTO — Outside of Scotiabank Arena, fans started lining up in the early morning hours. Not to get inside the arena, but just to stand outside in the chill at Jurassic Park, the area outside of the venue where a large screen and a large crowd would unite for the game.

And it wasn’t just the usual spot outside, but all over Ontario with 21 other cities getting permission to throw up a large screen and allow fans to gather to watch the first NBA Finals appearance by the Raptors. Theaters put the game on screens, too, turning the entire province into a community - a very loud community - in support of the only NBA team north of the border.

Despite the fervor, which is nothing new for the team, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in a state of the NBA address before the game said that just like cities in the United States, there would not likely be any imminent expansion. After beginning his talk with a nod to the history of the city — Toronto hosted the first-ever NBA game in a loss to the Knicks in 1946 and the inventor of the game, Dr. James Naismith was Canadian — he put aside any thoughts of any other cities getting a team.

“My answer is, you know, and it's the same as it's been for other U.S. cities that have expressed interest, and that is that we are just not in expansion mode at the time,” Silver said. “I mean, we're flattered that some other Canadian cities have expressed interest, as some other U.S. cities have, but again nothing new and I've said this before, that we, meaning the NBA collectively, all our team owners, are very focused on creating the best possible competition among the 30 teams. And I'm sure inevitably at some point we'll turn back to expansion, but it's not on the agenda at this time.”

Big market news

Silver said he has spoken with the respective owners, but had not taken an active role in the legal wrangling between Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and Knicks owner James Dolan over the possibility of a new Clippers arena in Inglewood.

“I have talked to Jim Dolan and Steve Ballmer about that lawsuit,” Silver said. “Obviously it's not something you like to see between partners in the NBA. I don't think there's a role for the league at the moment, but it's something that we're paying a lot of attention to, and there may be an opportunity at some point for us to help create some sort of reconciliation, but right now it's existing sort of outside of NBA governance.

“In terms of building another arena, I'm very supportive of Steve Ballmer. I mean, putting aside location for a second, they are probably third or fourth on the list of tenants currently at Staples. I mean, that's just a function of their lease. Everybody understands that. I think from a league standpoint, if you had both teams in the playoffs, plus a successful hockey team there, it becomes very difficult for us for scheduling purposes. So in terms of the overall marketplace and the concert marketplace, I can't speak to that, but maybe purely out of self-interest for the NBA, it would be helpful to have another arena in town.”

No touching

Silver said that the league spoke to hip-hop artist and Raptors enthusiastic fan Drake about the episode in which he rubbed Toronto coach Nick Nurse’s shoulders in the Eastern Conference Finals.

‘I mean, we certainly appreciate his superfan status, and I know he's beloved in the community of Toronto,” Silver said. “I think certainly we don't want fans, friend or foe, contacting an NBA coach during a game. I think that even as Nick Nurse later said, I didn't even realize it was Drake or hardly was aware that I was being touched, and I think those can lead to dangerous situations. You're in the middle of coaching a game and you're completely focused, you obviously don't want somebody who is not on your team touching you.

“We understood that in this case, given Drake's relationship to the team, it's not the same as just any fan who happened to be courtside touching a coach. But I think that's an absolute bright line that we have to draw.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.