The Jets continued arguably the most active day in any draft in their history by selecting cornerback Qwan'tez Stiggers out of the Canadian Football League with the 176th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the final pick of the fifth round.

Stiggers (5-11, 203) had a roller-coaster history, playing high school ball at B.E.S.T. Academy in Atlanta, initially enrolling at Lane College in Tennessee, sitting out football in '21 after the death of his father, entering and excelling in the 7-on-7 Fan Controlled Football (FCF) league back in Atlanta in '22, and last season being named the CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie while playing with the Toronto Argonauts.

He started 16 games last season, tying for second in the CFL in 2023 with five interceptions and making 56 tackles.

"It's amost surreal for me, man," Stiggers told team reporters after his selection. "I came up to the Jets on a top-30 visit and me and Coach TO [CBs coach Tony Oden] built a great relationship, and now I just feel like I'm at home. I might not have gone in the round I wanted to go, but at the end of the day, I love that the Jets selected me."

Despite his background and relative inexperience, many scouts see Stiggers as, in the words of NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein, "a very real prospect" with adequate size and speed and NFL-caliber ball skills and instincts.

Stiggers doesn't expect any hiccups in his transition from the CFL.

"I think my biggest adjustment is just going to be not having guys running me," he said. "I think I showed at East-West [this year's East-West Shrine Game] that I can press. I feel like my whole mindset is that if I get the right coaching staff, the sky's the limit. I just feel that being with the Jets, I've got a great opportunity to further my career."

And Stiggers is yet one more draft choice by the Jets and in the NFL to attest to the power of family and community in their particular situations. Going to the Argos, he said, "I was just looking for an opportunity but it ended up being more than that. It ended up being a life-changing year for me where I could chase my dreams and go to the NFL."

And he remains eternally grateful to God, his mother for signing him up for the FCF in '22, and his family for their support. "It's just believing in those who believe in you," he said. "I'm going to be going beyond the sky now."

With all of the trades by general manager Joe Douglas and his staff up and down the third day of the draft, the Jets had just one selection left that they held onto and that was No. 257, their third and last compensatory selection, and just as important, the pick for "Mr. Irrelevant" that will end the Jets' and the NFL's 2024 draft.

Long after the Toronto Maple Leafs had given in on Wednesday night, their play-by-play radio man, Joe Bowen, continued to fight.

Bowen didn’t appreciate the home crowd’s performance. He tweeted his displeasure like so:

“The idea of going

To any sporting event

To support the home team is to

Be PRO ACTIVE!!!”

I don’t know if he intended to metrically channel Dionne Brand here, but I like it.

Bowen announced himself “VERY DISAPPOINTED” in Toronto fans. On behalf of the players, he urged them to be better.

No one was offended because no one is dumb enough to publicly admit they paid for tickets to a Leafs game. Everyone you know who’s ever gone to a hockey game in Toronto got their ticket from a guy they know. Which guy? Uh, you’ve never met him. Or heard me talk about him. He’s in … mining.

As someone who was sitting directly in front of Bowen’s booth all night, I’ll tell you what – he did his part.

Whenever a Leafs game is at its loudest and I can’t hear what the guy beside me is saying, I can hear Bowen. I can hear him like he’s sitting in my lap and we’re touching noses. The man even Tweets loud.

He’s also the proof of his own point. When it’s coming down to it on deadline and you’re staring at your screen rather than the ice or the field, you depend on crowd noise to alert you to major developments. It’s not the roar. That’s too late. What you’re listening for is a collective intake of breath that precedes the roar.

That rule does not hold during Leafs game. Sometimes the horn will go off without any change in ambient sound in the lead up. So you learn to use Bowen instead. When his voice leaps from contralto to soprano, something’s happening.

One man, however lungularly gifted, should not be able to outshout a sold out arena. But here we are.

So what is the problem in Toronto? I don’t see one. I see something more telling.

The primary duty of a sports crowd isn’t to cheer on the home team. If you need someone standing behind you going woo hoo every time you open your laptop or flip the ‘Closed’ sign to ‘Open’, you’re probably not good at your work. Athletes who complain about the crowd are really complaining about themselves.

The player who says, ‘The crowd was great tonight’ will never say it wasn’t. It’s like someone saying you’ve got a beautiful baby. What else is she going to say – ‘That baby could go either way. Ask me again in 10 years.’

It’s also not the crowd’s job to get on the other team.

Pitcher Roy Halladay was once asked if it was tough going from the funereal atmosphere in Toronto to the gladiator pit in Philadelphia. Halladay said he found it easier to focus in Philadelphia, where the noise was an indistinguishable wall of sound. In the silence of Toronto, he could be distracted by a single voice.

All the yelling or not yelling probably isn’t making the difference you hope it is. It worked in football, and then they put microphones in the helmets. Now it’s people screaming to amuse themselves.

A sports crowd has one useful function. It advertises the character and quirks of the city in which it lives to the rest of the world.

You may never go to Columbus, or Anaheim, or Sacramento (seriously, don’t go there). Unless they are represented in popular film or television, you won’t have any sense of what the people in those places are like. Until you watch their sports.

All crowds are basically the same, but there are small, telling differences. Philadelphia crowds have a reputation for brusqueness – I once saw the crowd at a Phillies game boo a teenage ball girl because she allowed a hot-shot foul to get through her legs.

So you go to Philadelphia expecting brusqueness all around, and you will find it. Do not dawdle on a Philadelphia sidewalk. Someone will say something. If you brush up against someone, you, a Canadian, will say, ‘Sorry’, and they, a Philadelphian, will say, ‘Watch where you’re going.’

New York crowds are right up in your face and yes, New York is like that. Boston crowds hate their enemies more than they love their friends, and again, yes.

Montreal crowds are fickle. Miami crowds are lascivious. They cheer the dance team louder than they cheer the Heat.

The San Francisco crowd is too cool to bother watching the game – they are loud, but it is the loudness of 20,000 conversations.

What is Toronto’s crowd like? Bored. Not quite sure why it’s there. Thinking about how much they have to drink in the hospitality suite to make the insane cost of this seat a value proposition for their ‘friend,’ the mining impresario.

Toronto is terrified of missing out, so it will show up, but it’s not going to act excited once it’s there. Toronto goes to sports the way people on vacation go to museums – so that they can say they did.

The Leafs crowd is not demographically representative of the city. I’m as downtown as it gets and I couldn’t afford to buy tickets to these games. Not even as a splurge. I know very few people who can, and fewer still who choose to.

But in terms of temperament, the Leafs crowd is Toronto par excellence. Helpful, but not friendly. Nosy, but not curious. Up on the latest thing, but not daring.

The Toronto sports crowd is Toronto – a bunch of front runners. They’d have been plenty loud if the Leafs were winning 10-0.

The fact that half the city showed up to celebrate the Raptors championship win – not exactly a too-cool-for-school move – also says something profound about us. This was a team few felt strongly about a month earlier. But once they’d won? Fans for life.

So how would you describe Toronto to someone who has never been and never will?

We have no idea how to stage one, and no faith that we will ever see one again, but we do love a parade.

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William Nylander is closing in on his debut for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against Boston on Saturday.

The Leafs trail the Bruins 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Friday, the winger spoke with reporters for the first time since being sidelined with an undisclosed injury two weeks ago. The mystery ailment has held Nylander out of Toronto's lineup for the first three postseason tilts against Boston, and he has been diligently working to get back in.

Nylander was a full participant in the Leafs' practice on Friday, skating on a regular line with Pontus Holmberg and Calle Jarnkrok and taking reps on Toronto's first power-play unit. Both are signs that Toronto is preparing to have Nylander for Saturday's game.

"We'll see," Nylander surmised of his potential availability. "I don't know [for sure]."

Coach Sheldon Keefe remained optimistic Nylander was finally ready to go after an engaging practice session.

"He looked great to me on the ice," said Keefe. "In terms of his status, we'll have to determine that [on Saturday]."

Details of Nylander's injury have been strictly guarded by the Leafs so far. Nylander followed suit when asked to confirm media reports he has been dealing with migraines.

"That's just personal, so I'm not going to get into that," he said.

Nylander wasn't worried either about stepping back into a series that's been in full swing for a week either, citing there was "nothing" difficult ahead for him in a potential return on Saturday.

"I've been skating and everything; I'm fine," said Nylander. "It is what it is. There's nothing to really stress about. You can't force yourself back into the game, so I'll be ready when I'm ready."

Toronto could use a boost like Nylander coming back heading into Game 4. He was a 40-goal scorer in the regular season with an impressive playoff résumé (having collected 40 points in 50 previous postseason outings). Adding an offensive weapon like that to the mix can help the Leafs solve their scoring issues. Toronto has managed six goals in the first three games against Boston, and their misfiring power play is 1-for-11.

Having Nylander as an option makes the Leafs immediately more dangerous at both 5-on-5 and special teams. That's paramount for Toronto's hopes of tying the series again before it goes back to Boston for Game 5 on Tuesday.

The Bruins have been changing things up in their crease throughout the playoffs to date, rotating between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark as they did with good success in the regular season.

Boston coach Jim Montgomery wouldn't confirm his Game 4 goaltender after Swayman backstopped the Bruins to wins in Game 1 and Game 3, but there's a chance it'll be Linus Ullmark getting the call despite Boston falling in his last Game 2 start.

"We're following the plan we had in place," said Montgomery, while confirming the decision has already been made.

The Dodgers’ charter pointed north after their series in Washington wrapped on Thursday, setting up a weekend series that Blue Jays fans have had circled in red since the day Shohei Ohtani went from the next great hope of the franchise to the one that got away.

“Did he sign there?” joked Blue Jays manager John Schneider on Wednesday.

The heartbreak hasn’t gone anywhere, but clearly, there’s no ill will.

“No. If anything, just tell him we want our Blue Jays hat back that he took with him after our meeting,” Schneider quipped.

The Ohtani drama simmered through the early days of last offseason before completely boiling over in one of the strangest weeks in Blue Jays history. There may never be another pursuit like it. Honoring Ohtani’s wishes to keep negotiations private, the Blue Jays tiptoed around acknowledging the elephant in the room, which led to an unforgettable moment at the 2023 Winter Meetings in Nashville when Ross Atkins’ scheduled, in-person media availability was suddenly moved to a Zoom video call.

Atkins sat in front of a blank white wall with no defining features and wouldn’t reveal his whereabouts, but it was easy to speculate. He was courting Ohtani, the brightest star in the sport.

Pandemonium set in on Dec. 8, following an inaccurate report that morning that Ohtani had reached an agreement with the Blue Jays and a subsequent inaccurate report that he was on a flight to Toronto. Suddenly, the eyes of a nation of baseball fans were glued to online flight trackers, with some fans in the area of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport even timing it to watch the plane fly overhead as it passed.

“I was just following the news. I knew I wasn’t on that flight, so I was curious too,” Ohtani said Wednesday through interpreter Will Ireton.

Of course, Ohtani wasn’t on the plane. The very next morning, Ohtani announced in an Instagram post -- keeping full control over his own, league-altering news -- that he was signing with the Dodgers. The 10-year, $700 million deal is the richest in baseball history, blowing everything else out of the water.

“In regards to the offseason, I was as surprised as any fans, in terms of the news that was going around,” Ohtani said. “But I did meet with the Blue Jays organization. And the impression that I got was it was a really, really great organization. The fans are really good. The city, too. So I’m really looking forward to going to Toronto.”

While everyone is saying the right things going into the series, this hasn’t gone away and won’t for years. This changed the course of both franchises, but the fans -- particularly those in Canada who were led to believe in a future that never became a reality -- could make their feelings known when Ohtani steps to the plate for the first time at Rogers Centre.

“It might be a little different,” Schneider said, “especially with those 12 or 24 hours in Toronto in December. Hopefully they give it to him a little bit, but man, he’s a hell of a player. He’s a great player. You don’t like watching him from the other dugout, but you have to appreciate how good he is. It will be interesting to see how the fans welcome him.”

As Schneider noted, it’s nearly impossible to not appreciate what Ohtani has done on the field through 27 games this season with the Dodgers. He's third in the Majors in OPS (1.109) and batting average (.358) and has hit 14 doubles, five more than any other player in the league.

In just about every way, Ohtani has been as good as advertised. In a short period of time, he has shown the Dodgers why he was worth the $700 million deal he got this winter. Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, this weekend could also serve as a reminder why he was worth the flight tracker drama back in December.

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“I think he should get a fine reception,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who said he was playing golf while the world tracked the plane. “A lot of that stuff that kind of came out wasn’t his doing. So it’s not like he disrespected the fan base at all. He entertained them and had nice things to say about them. So I expect him to be just fine.”

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Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoff Buzz. With the postseason underway, NHL.com has you covered with all the latest news.

Boston Bruins

Derek Forbort will be “an option” for the Boston Bruins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, NESN, SNP, SNO, SNE, TVAS, CBC).

The 32-year-old defenseman has not played since March 2 due to two undisclosed injuries, and Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said shortly after he expected Forbort to be out for the season.

Forbort had surgery and played two games with Providence of the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint on April 19 and April 21. He practiced on Boston’s third defense pair with Parker Wotherspoon on Monday.

Forbort has five assists (three goals, two assists) in 32 career Stanley Cup Playoff games. He had four assists in 35 games during the regular season.

Bruins forward Justin Brazeau will also be an option for Game 5 after recovering from an upper-body injury sustained April 2 in a 3-0 win at the Nashville Predators.

The 26-year-old had seven points (five goals, two assists) in 19 regular-season games. He has yet to play an NHL playoff game.

“We’ll see tomorrow night if they’re in the lineup or not,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said Monday. “There’s steps left to be made, but they are close.”

Brazeau practiced with Pat Maroon and Jesper Boqvist on the fourth line Monday, but Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen did not participate for maintenance reasons. -- Joe Pohoryles

New York Islanders

Matt Martin will not play in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; MAX, MSGSN, TBS, BSSO, SN360, TVAS) because of a lower-body injury.

The 34-year-old forward will travel with the Islanders but will miss his second straight game. Rookie forward Ruslan Iskhakov made his playoff debut in New York’s 3-2 double overtime win in Game 3 on Saturday.

"Still the same. Day to day," coach Patrick Roy said Monday. "He's a leader on our team, so guys want to be around him for sure."

Martin has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in 88 career playoff games. He does not have a point in three games in this series, which Carolina leads 3-1.

Forward Simon Holmstrom skated in Martin's spot alongside Kyle MacLean and Cal Clutterbuck at practice Monday.

"We haven't made the decision on who's going to be on the left side with MacLean and Clutterbuck, but whatever decision is going to be made, we're very comfortable with the player that is going to be there," Roy said. -- Stefen Rosner

Winnipeg Jets

Brenden Dillon missed Winnipeg's 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round on Sunday with a hand injury.

The defenseman sustained the injury in a scrum following Colorado's 6-2 win Friday. The Avalanche have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Jets coach Rick Bowness is hopeful Dillon can play Game 5 when his team will face elimination at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SNW, ALT, ESPN).

"Fortunately, there is no damage at all but unfortunately, there are a lot of stitches holding it together, so our doctors are a little hesitant to put him back in this quickly," Bowness said. "If you asked him, he'd play. He'd just tape the whole hand up and play. He has that much desire."

Logan Stanley, a healthy scratch in Game 3, replaced Dillon. Forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, who the Jets recalled from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Saturday, was in the lineup for David Gustafsson, a healthy scratch. -- Tracey Myers

Bruins defeat Maple Leafs in Game 4, on verge of winning series

Marchand has goal, assist, Swayman makes 24 saves in victory; Matthews leaves game for Toronto

By

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TORONTO -- Brad Marchand had a goal and an assist, helping the Boston Bruins to a 3-1 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Full Coverage

Scoring

1st Period

1-0 BOS

Score

15:09

Time

Backhand

Shot

2nd Period

Brad Marchand (3)PPG

C. McAvoy (4), C. Coyle (2)

2-0 BOS

Score

08:20

Time

Slap

Shot

David Pastrnak (2)

B. Marchand (5), P. Zacha (2)

3-0 BOS

Score

19:18

Time

Wrist

Shot

3rd Period

Mitch Marner (1)

I. Lyubushkin (2), T. Bertuzzi (2)

3-1 BOS

Score

05:43

Time

Backhand

Shot

Highlights

Marner dangles and scores00:00:47

Pastrnak buries Marchand's dish00:00:42

View more

Penalties

1st Period

2nd Period

3rd Period

Three Stars of the Game

TORONTO -- As he continues to be under the weather, Auston Matthews' availability is up in the air for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round between his Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

But even if he does play, will this be one of, if not the final time Maple Leafs fans see this version of their favorite team as we know it?

The Maple Leafs trail the best-of-7 series 3-1 and are in a win-or-go-home scenario heading into the game at TD Garden (7 p.m. ET, ESPN, NESN, SNP, SNO, SNE, TVAS, CBC). The sobering reality of their situation: If they don’t win their next three outings against the machine-like Bruins, it will be another crushing postseason disappointment for the Toronto organization and its rabid supporters.

An ailing Matthews was unable to play in the third period of Toronto’s 3-1 loss in Game 4 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, part of a dysfunctional evening by the hosts that included verbal sniping between teammates on the bench.

With 48 hours between games, coach Sheldon Keefe is hoping the added time gives the Toronto center time to improve his health.

“Not much of an update there (but) luckily, again, we’ve got a couple of days here,” Keefe said Sunday. “We thought the last couple of days would help us. For whatever reason it’s not one of those run-of-the-mill, everyday type of illnesses that sort of come and go.”

To what extent?

“The effects have lingered, and it’s gotten worse every time he gets out on the ice asserting himself,” the coach said. “We’ve just got to manage that and give him the time that he needs.”

Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, time is running out on them.

They know it too, and it has spawned a powder keg of emotions boiling over after a disagreement on the bench in Game 4 had TV cameras showing William Nylander telling fellow forward Mitch Marner to stop “crying.”

Keefe views the situation as teammates simply pushing each other.

“I look at it as something that happens when things aren’t going well,” Keefe said. “In the past, quite honestly, that wouldn’t have happened. Guys wouldn’t have talked it out, wouldn’t have, if you want to call it, argued it out.

“I look at it as progress and that those guys care. I don’t look at it as frustration. I look at them being upset and (peeved) off that they didn’t deliver for the team, and they’re pushing and challenging each other to get it right.

“They know how important they are to the team. When they’re not delivering, they recognize it. I don’t look at it much more than that. Quite honestly, it’s not the first time that it’s happened.”

But will it be one of the last, given the fact that significant changes on the ice and off could be in the works if Toronto comes up short again?

Since 2004 the Maple Leafs have won just one playoff series, against the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in their best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round last year.

More recently, the team will fall to 1-8 in postseason matchups since 2016 if they are eliminated by the Bruins this time around. Keep in mind that Matthews, Marner, Nylander and defenseman Morgan Rielly have been part of all of those and, along with captain John Tavares, are considered the core of this team.

Having said that, the postseason futility, at least in the past decade, is a clear message that something is not working. And don’t be surprised if change is in the air.

Keith Pelley, who was recently named CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, was in Boston for Games 1 and 2 and got a first-hand glimpse of the operation run by team president Brendan Shanahan. Meanwhile Brad Treliving, who replaced Kyle Dubas as general manager 11 months ago, will have a decision to make regarding the future of Keefe if the Bruins send Toronto packing in the next week.

On the ice, while Matthews, Nylander and Rielly have long-term contracts, Marner’s deal is up after next season. Despite the forward having a no-movement clause, he could be a candidate to be moved with free agency looming in the summer of 2025, even though the Maple Leafs playoff woes cut far deeper than just one player.

The forward has a goal and an assist in four playoff games this spring and has averaged almost a point per game (11 goals, 38 assists, 49 points in 54 outings) in his postseason career. If he does agree to be moved, can the Maple Leafs get comparable skill back in return?

While that question remains hypothetical at this time, the following facts are not.

The Maple Leafs have failed to score more than two goals in 10 of their past 11 postseason games. They have lost six consecutive home playoff games, outscored 21-11 in the process.

Three consecutive victories by Matthews and his teammates would change that narrative. But it remains a very daunting task, to be sure.

TORONTO — If you’ve been feeling nostalgic for the Toronto Raptors of old, when April, May and June were a roller-coaster of high expectations, dashed hopes and unexpected triumphs, the first round of the NBA playoffs has been a trip down memory lane, delivering a warm fuzzy feeling from days gone by.

Or maybe they’ve made you sad, lamenting what was and what seems so distant now.

Either way, nostalgia is a powerful drug. Entire consumer and entertainment categories — political movements, too — have been built mining the feelings we all have about things that are far enough in the rearview that it’s easy to brush off the complicating glitches.

But it is remarkable that five years after the Raptors won the NBA title, four years after setting a franchise record winning percentage and two years since their last playoff appearance, several former players are playing key roles on teams planning on deep playoff runs. This, even as the current edition of the Raptors is coming off a 25-win season and hoping the rebuild is short-lived and returns the team to the lofty heights it occupied in the Eastern Conference for much of the past decade sooner rather than later.

But the former Raptors — a total of six sprinkled among four teams — are in the thick of it.

In reverse order of departure, you have Pascal Siakam playing some of his best basketball as the Indiana Pacers find themselves up 3-1 on the injury-riddled third-seed Milwaukee Bucks. O.G. Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa will have a chance to lift the Knicks to the second round with a win against the 76ers on Tuesday night in Game 5 as their series shifts back to New York. If they do, it will be a disappointing end for Nick Nurse, who coached all of the Raptors still in the playoffs during his five-year run with Toronto and who has been starting former Raptors guard Kyle Lowry in the playoffs for Philadelphia, after Lowry joined his old coach after being traded by the Miami Heat and then waived by Charlotte. Out west, there is Norm Powell and Kawhi Leonard in a tough fight with Dallas, trying to help the Los Angeles Clippers fulfill the championship mission that Leonard signed up for when he left the Raptors as a free agent in the summer of 2019. The series is tied 2-2, with Game 5 set for Wednesday.

The ex-Raptors were all over the place in the final moments of the Knicks' tense win over the Sixers in Philadelphia on Sunday. Anunoby did a standout job guarding Sixers giant Joel Embiid down the stretch — this, after spending long stretches chasing around Philly’s lightning quick guard, Tyrese Maxey. The pair of assignments proving once again that Anunoby’s defensive versatility may be unmatched league-wide.

But when the Sixers were down four with 27 seconds left, there was Lowry showing that his bag of tricks remains full to the brim, even at age 38, as he drew a foul away from the ball by setting a screen for Embiid on Anunoby, and then dutifully flopped, drawing the foul, and getting the Sixers a free point at the free throw line. (It was actually just the second most-Lowry play of the game, as in the first quarter he somehow drew a shooting foul by tripping over the Knicks' Jalen Brunson, who was lying on the floor at the time.) But on the next play, it was a Achiuwa — who played the entire fourth quarter for the Knicks — blocking Embiid’s lay-up attempt to help secure the win. Still, while the Sixers might be down 3-1 and facing elimination when the series heads back to New York, Lowry is plus-24 in the four games, second on Philadelphia only to Embiid. Meanwhile, the Knicks improved to 23-4 with Anunoby in the lineup, and Achiuwa — considered a bit of an afterthought in the Dec. 30 trade, given the Knicks' frontcourt depth — has continued to prove himself to be a useful rotation option for head coach Tom Thibodeau.

As the Pacers player with the most playoff experience, Siakam has stepped into his role as veteran leader with style. He became the first NBA player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1967 to open the playoffs with consecutive games with at least 35 points and 10 rebounds, putting up a 36/13/2 line on 15-of-25 shooting in a Pacers loss in Game 1 and 37/11/6 in a win in Game 2. The Bucks contained Siakam a little better in Game 3, limiting him to 17 points and nine rebounds on 7-of-17 shooting, but he still made several crucial plays down the stretch for the Pacers, including an assist on the game-winning three in the overtime victory. He was content to play a supporting role in the Pacers' win Sunday night — though he did flirt with a triple double, notching 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Powell has been one of the most efficient bench scorers in the NBA since being traded by the Raptors. He was rightfully upset he didn’t win or wasn’t even named a finalist for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award after posting a True Shooting percentage (which factors in the value of two-point shots, three-point shots and free throws) of 62.6 this season. Leonard was his dominant self during the regular season and seemed poised to lead the Clippers on a long-awaited title run before knee problems surfaced again. On Sunday, he was ruled out indefinitely after struggling (by his standards) in Games 2 and 3 against Dallas. The Clippers won without him to even the series 2-2. Powell hit three triples and is now shooting 59 per cent from deep for the series.

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Now, there wasn’t a world where the ex-Raptors would all remain current Raptors. Free agents leave, and when it comes to trades, we can quibble on the returns and the timing, but there are always more forces pulling teams apart in the NBA than keeping them together.

Leonard left for Los Angeles as soon as he could; there was no mechanism with which the Raptors could compel him to stay. Lowry didn’t want return to Toronto after the Raptors spent the 2020-21 season in Tampa (Achiuwa was the return from the sign-and-trade that sent Lowry to Miami). Powell being traded straight up for Gary Trent Jr. at the deadline in 2021 is a sore point, given that four years later Powell remains the better player and is under contract with the Clippers for two more years on a deal that averaged a very reasonable $18 million a year, while Trent Jr. — who was earning similar money on a shorter deal — could leave the Raptors in free agency for nothing.

Anunoby? Had he wanted to stay in Toronto via free agency this summer, he surely would have signalled that. Instead, it’s widely expected that the elite 3-and-D wing will be signed by the Knicks this summer for top dollar, a deal league sources believe was effectively agreed to as a condition of the Knicks acquiring him. His agent is, after all, the son of Knicks president Leon Rose.

Siakam? First off, it does seems like three first-round picks — 19th this year and the Pacers' top-four protected pick in 2026, as well as what turned out to be the 29th pick this season, which was subsequently sent in the trade with Utah to acquire, effectively, Ochai Agbaji — along with Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora and Kira Lewis is a fairly light return for someone who can affect a playoff series the way Siakam has for the Pacers. But that’s water under the bridge. The Raptors didn’t want to offer the contract in either term or value that Siakam wanted, so they parted ways. The Pacers could sign Siakam for as much as $249.3 million over five years this summer. Time will tell if paying the two-time all-NBA selection $56.7 million in his age-34 season will be good business or not.

But what the exercise does do is illustrate the standard the new-look Raptors will have to reach to match all the feel-goods from seasons past.

Out there in the NBA universe are former Raptors with 449 games of playoff experience and counting.

Among the Raptors' projected core heading into next season — Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick, Jakob Poeltl and Kelly Olynyk — there is just 105 games of post-season experience, with 70 of those games attributed to veterans Poeltl and Olynyk.

How long it will take for the Raptors to be in the post-season themselves, rather than having former Raptors carry the torch for glory days past, is the looming question for this off-season and quite possibly for several off-seasons to come.

Maybe they find fortune in the draft. Maybe it’s with a clever transaction this summer. More realistically, it’s through the steady improvement of their existing core and the addition of key pieces at the right times.

But if the current Raptors or their fans want a taste of what playoff basketball is like, all they have to do is watch.

Even the very best hitters go through cold streaks. While those can often go unnoticed, it’s far different when cold spells come at the beginning of the season. Poor starts -- with no recent string of success to point to -- can raise alarm bells for any hitter, especially those with long track records of production.

In 2024, several talented hitters have started the season on the wrong foot. Here’s how seven of them -- including two league MVPs -- can fix what’s ailed them so far this year.

All stats are entering play Saturday.

Aaron Judge, Yankees Fix: Square the ball up Name the Statcast hitting metric, and Judge probably ranked in the 100th percentile in it in 2023: expected wOBA, expected slugging percentage, barrel rate, hard-hit rate and more. That’s not the case this year, as Judge has struggled to a .178 average, a .674 OPS and just four home runs this season. His barrel rate has dropped to the 82nd percentile -- above average, to be sure, but not typical territory for a hitter of Judge’s caliber. More concerning is a .214 expected batting average that ranks in the 18th percentile (Judge’s 2023 xBA was .289, in the 92nd percentile.)

Whether it’s just a slump or whether Judge is still slowed by an abdominal injury that limited him in Spring Training is unclear, but Judge has looked far from himself so far. His .321 xwOBA is only slightly above average, and his strikeout rate is its highest since 2019. When he can consistently make more solid contact -- using the unique power he has -- things should turn quickly for the 2022 American League MVP Award winner.

Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals Fix: Rediscover hard contact Most of Goldschmidt’s Statcast percentile rankings have dipped significantly from 2023, when he hit .260 with 31 doubles, 25 homers and an .810 OPS. The 2022 National League MVP has a .581 OPS, is running a career-high 28.7% strikeout rate and has particularly struggled when it comes to hard contact, sitting in the 17th percentile in barrel rate at just 3.2% (Goldschmidt hasn’t run a barrel rate under 10% since 2016).

A .318 batting average and .900 OPS in his past six games could indicate that Goldschmidt is starting to figure things out. For a player with his lengthy track record of production, that wouldn’t be surprising. But for now, Goldy’s struggles have been significantly hampering a Cardinals offense that ranks just 26th in MLB with a .649 OPS.

Randy Arozarena, Rays Fix: Cut down swings and misses Arozarena hasn’t been able to get anything going so far in 2024, owning a .153/.231/.255 slash line with just three home runs. In terms of batter run value, he’s been in the bottom five of MLB hitters. The Rays outfielder is still hitting the ball hard overall, sitting in the 73rd percentile in average exit velocity, but his barrel rate has gone down significantly since 2023.

Most notably, though, Arozarena’s 34.2% whiff rate is his worst since 2020, as is his 28.7% strikeout clip. His walk rate has also gone back down after a career-high mark last season. Arozarena simply hasn’t been doing damage on pitches in the strike zone, and his penchant for swinging and missing so far in 2024 has been worrisome for Tampa Bay.

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Bo Bichette, Blue Jays Fix: Find the sweet spot After leading the American League in hits in 2021 and 2022 and batting .306 last season, Bichette has struggled considerably to begin 2024. The shortstop, who has never posted an OPS lower than .800 in his career, is running a .593 OPS through his first 25 games. While Bichette is walking more and chasing less, his expected statistics have taken a step back, including an xBA of just .212 -- lower than his actual .216 average.

So what’s behind Bichette’s struggles? For one, his 19.5% sweet-spot rate is fifth lowest in all of MLB. His 88.1 mph average exit velocity and 37.8% hard-hit rate are career lows, and he owns only two barrels all year (a 2.4% clip ranking in the 12th percentile). A career .296 hitter, Bichette likely won’t struggle like this all season, but this April has been the second-worst month of his career by OPS behind only April 2022.

Corbin Carroll, D-backs Fix: Make more solid contact At 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds, Carroll will never hit the ball with the power of a player like Judge or Giancarlo Stanton. But his above-average exit velocity and hard-hit rate from 2023 have fallen significantly this season, giving Carroll a .202 average, a .253 slugging percentage and just one homer so far in 2024.

Carroll’s 83.8 mph average exit velocity is in the third percentile in MLB, and only 24.7% of his 81 batted balls have been hard hit. It’s hard to do much damage at the plate -- or get on base enough to steal 57 bases again -- when you’re not squaring the ball up. That should come in time for a talented hitter like Carroll, but it’s been a big problem in the season’s first month.

Alex Bregman, Astros Fix: Tap into more power Bregman hasn’t been the worst hitter in the Astros' lineup this year, but he’s still performed at a substandard level: a .216 average, .566 OPS and not a single home run. His lack of production has been one of Houston’s key issues amid a 7-19 start that has the Astros at the bottom of the AL West.

Plate discipline has been an issue for Bregman: He’s walking less while simultaneously chasing more than in 2023. But perhaps most importantly, the lack of homers is evidence of Bregman’s currently missing power. He’s slugging just .273, and it’s not really bad luck: His expected slugging percentage is just .308. Bregman’s average exit velocity is a career low, and his significantly lower barrel rate is a real concern.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays Fix: Adjust to breaking and offspeed stuff After a frustrating 2023 when Guerrero significantly underperformed his expected statistics, the Blue Jays first baseman is off to a slow start. Vladdy is hitting just .206 with a .324 slugging percentage and three home runs. Breaking down the pitch types he’s faced in 2024 can help explain his struggles.

Guerrero is faring just fine against fastballs in 2024, with a .281 average and .404 SLG in 70 plate appearances. But he’s 0-for-16 in plate appearances ending in offspeed stuff and just 5-for-29 (.172) against breaking pitches. Of the three pitch types, Guerrero actually fared best against offspeed pitches last season with a .350 wOBA. That number has dipped to .080 early in 2024, and it’s part of the reason for Guerrero’s struggles -- despite his mostly strong underlying metrics.