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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - The juxtaposition of the scene just outside Toronto's locker room, moments after the biggest win in franchise history, couldn't have been more appropriate.

Standing side-by-side, the Raptors' two most influential figures formed the procession line that greeted the troops as they came off the court.

Masai Ujiri - architect of the team - was dressed, as usual, in suit and tie. Drake - architect of its image - wore a tattered denim jacket over a gold t-shirt, otherwise known as a Canadian tuxedo.

They cheered, they shouted, they clapped and they hugged each player and team employee that walked in the room.

After welcoming the playoffs with public, profanity-laced motivational speeches in each of the last two years - to little success and a pair of fines from the league - Ujiri had kept a low profile throughout this first-round series with the Indiana Pacers but, in this moment, a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, from all of their shoulders.

"There goes that monkey," Toronto's general manager yelled. "There goes that monkey."

Finally, they could exhale. With Sunday's 89-84 Game 7 victory, the Raptors won their first ever best-of-seven playoff series, advancing to the second round for the first time in 15 years.

Nothing about it was as easy as it could have been, with this team nothing ever is. Even in the dying seconds of the final, deciding game, the lead - once 16, cut at one point to three - didn't feel safe. The Raptors were the East's second seed, and only occasionally in a series that ultimately went the distance did they look like it.

There was a nervous energy in the building and around the city emanating from Friday's 18-point blowout loss in Indiana. "Here we go again," many thought, and why wouldn't they? Toronto sports fans are conditioned to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Anything that can go wrong usually does.

Ujiri, like DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry are our adopted sons. They feel it too, the history: good, bad and - mostly - ugly.

It's for that reason many had given up hope. "Raptors trail best-of-seven series 3-3," was the running joke. It's also the reason this strange and unfamiliar feeling of victory tastes that much sweeter, for fans, for the players, the coaches, the GM and, yes, for Drake.

"First of all, I want to see everybody's story that they wrote before the game," said a cheeky Dwane Casey after the win and minutes before Ujiri ran up on stage to kiss his head coach on the top of his head. "I think everybody wrote the Raptors off and gave us up for dead, but that locker room is full of fighters and scrappers."

"I’m happy for those young men, I read some of the stuff not only here but around the country about how Indiana was going to win. I loved it because I think our guys used that as motivation, used it as fuel to fight, to scrap and they did what they did for 82 games."

"I couldn't believe how many Tweets and Instagram posts I was getting about the series being over and I'm like 'we've got Game 7 on our home court'," said DeMarre Carroll, who is still relatively new to this market, but he'll learn quick, if he hasn't already. "I hear so many people talking about the Toronto curse and all this but, man... I told plenty of fans, I told plenty of media that this is a different team. We have a different mindset. This is a team that's going to go out and leave it on the court and that's what we did tonight."

And where would the Raptors be without those imports, the guys Ujiri added in a not-so-subtle attempt to toughen up his team after their most recent post-season debacle: last year's humiliating sweep at the hands of the Washington Wizards? Carroll, who wasn't even sure he'd be ready for the playoffs having missed three months with a knee injury, gave them good, hard minutes on Pacers' all-star forward Paul George. Bismack Biyombo was a reliable force on the boards and around the rim throughout the series. Rookie Norman Powell continued to mature before our eyes as he forced his way into the playoff rotation over another newcomer Luis Scola - 13 years Powell's senior - and enigma of all enigmas Terrence Ross. Then there's the unflappable, battle-tested Cory Joseph, the team's back-up point guard, who was almost certainly their most consistent player from Games 1 through 7. With the exception of Joseph - a hometown kid who grew up watching it, living it as a fan - those guys couldn't care less about the heartbreak this franchise has endured, and that went a long way in rising above it. With clear minds and a blank slate, they just went out and played.

For most of the series, DeRozan and Lowry looked like they were carrying the weight of the franchise's past, or at least shot like it. Toronto's all-star duo hit 32 per cent of its shots and a horrendous 16 per cent of its three-pointers. DeRozan broke out for 30 points in Game 7 but needed 32 shots to do it, channeling his childhood hero Kobe Bryant. Bothered by an elbow ailment most assume is worse than he'll let on, Lowry shot under 40 per cent each contest and, despite his usual hard play, doesn't quite seem like himself.

The hope, as they get set to open their second-round series against the Miami Heat on Tuesday, is that they've gotten that monkey that Ujiri was referring to off their backs. The playoffs are daunting enough without having that dark cloud hanging over your head, the ghosts, the playoff demons. Now that they've finally gotten past that mental hurdle, now that they've done what many assumed they couldn't or wouldn't, will some of that pressure be alleviated?

"I don’t know if relaxed is the word I would use," Casey said. "But play freer basketball, not worrying about the history, or anything anybody’s writing, who’s going to be here, who isn’t going to be here. I think guys will be freer now."

"Hopefully we got the monkey off our back. I hope everyone continues to doubt us, I think that’s motivation for us."