Two nights ago, when the St. Louis Blues won their first-ever Stanley Cup, nobody really worried about what Nelly's reaction was. (As it turns out, Nelly Instagrammed himself yelling at his TV.) But Toronto is not St. Louis, basketball is not hockey, and Nelly is not Drake. And when Drake's hometown Toronto Raptors won their first-ever NBA Finals last night, Drake had already very much made himself a part of the story.
A small mercy: Drake was not in the arena when the Raptors defeated the defending champion Golden State Warriors last night. The Raptors won the series in Oakland, while Drake was back in Toronto, leading a big Raptors victory celebration. If Drake had been around, he would've been in the locker room. He would've been spraying champagne. He would've been on the stage, acting like an actual Raptor, when Adam Silver handed out the trophies. It would've been insufferable. (Or there would've been video of security denying Drake access to the Raptors' locker room, which is exactly what happened when the Heat won the championship in 2013. That would've been funny.)
Drake has already promised that he'll release two new songs today -- "Omertà" and the Rick Ross collab "Money In The Grave" -- to celebrate the Raptors' victory. We'll post those as soon as they're available. But for now, we should take a moment for the spectacle that was the Drake celebration. It was really something.
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Drake has been all over the news during this year's NBA Playoffs. As the Finals were starting, the NBA actually warned both Drake and the Raptors about Drake's courtside shenanigans. And during game 1, Drake was extremely extra: Wearing Steph Curry's father's Raptors jersey, covering up his tattoos of Curry and Kevin Durant's jersey numbers, putting "Steph Curry hair lint" for sale on eBay, and getting into what Draymond Green would not call a scuffle with Draymond Green. So of course Drake acted like he'd won the championship himself, going so far as to give a postgame interview.
Drake been waiting a long time for this feeling
(via @TSN_Sports)pic.twitter.com/8y8DzRYXyv
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 14, 2019
Drake really came out to do postgame interviews(via @TheCarlanGay) pic.twitter.com/REbMeVacyW
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) June 14, 2019
(Drake, it must be said, was more emotional in that interview than the actual Finals MVP, the terrifying basketball robot Kawhi Leonard, was in his own.)
Drake also had a conciliatory FaceTime call with Steph Curry. Curry was filmed talking to Drake as he left the arena.
.@StephenCurry30's full phone conversation with @Drake congratulating him on the @Raptors' championship—only on CloseUp360. #CU360 #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/mKjAKHS3RS
— CloseUp360 (@CloseUp360) June 14, 2019
And of course, Drake posted a bunch of stuff on Instagram.
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Thus concludes Drake's NBA Finals performance. It was really something.
(Shout out to Drake's fellow Ontario superstar Shania Twain, who kept things more dignified.)
