We’re running it back because they can’t.

With the National Basketball Association on hold for the foreseeable future, TSN and Sportsnet are airing the entirety of the Toronto Raptors’ playoff run to the 2019 NBA title beginning on Friday night on Sportsnet with Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Orlando Magic.

Over these 24 games, fans can relive the highs and lows – there were lows, but you just might not remember them – of that magical run to the franchise’s first ever championship, capping a remarkable turnaround from NBA laughingstock to the league’s very best.

From Kawhi Leonard calling series against the Philadelphia 76ers, to the team improbably overturning a 2-0 series deficit against the Milwaukee Bucks, to that famous June night in Oakland when the Raptors got their hands on the Larry OB, you can relive all 24 games that made the Toronto Raptors NBA champions.

April 13, 2019 - Eastern Conference quarterfinals Game 1 - Orlando Magic vs. Toronto Raptors

Toronto Raptors fans were not crazy or paranoid. It wasn’t a conspiracy theory. What they believed was true – the rest of the NBA often dismissed their team and its aspirations.

Five Atlantic Division titles in six years? It didn’t matter. Multiple 50-plus win seasons? Inconsequential. A team with two All-Stars? Whatever.

At the core of every Toronto Raptors team was Toronto Raptors DNA; written into that DNA was the inability to get things done when it counted.

Go back to 2007. A year after winning just 34 games, the Raptors win their first division title in the franchise’s existence. Sam Mitchell is the NBA’s Coach of the Year. General manager Bryan Colangelo wins NBA Executive of the Year. Chris Bosh is emerging as one of the game’s best young big men.

Enjoying the greatest success the team had ever seen to that juncture, the team had the opportunity to exorcize failures of the past with their first-round playoff matchup. The third-seeded Raptors drew the sixth-seeded New Jersey Nets, led by Vince Carter, a man who once was the face of the franchise, but forced his way out of town two years earlier in one of Toronto sports’ most acrimonious breakups. The old adage goes that living well is the best revenge and what better way to do that than by showing Carter to his face?

If you’ve followed the Raptors over their quarter-century history, you’re well aware that there were only a scant few opportunities to fall flat on their faces that the team ever passed up. Against Carter and the Nets was a chance that they couldn’t miss doing just that. Carter averaged 25 points a night in a six-game series victory that saw the Nets take all three games on their home court.

It’s 2014. The blockbuster trade of Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings the prior December spurs a resurgence that sees the Raptors claim a surprise division title and return to the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. In the first round, the Dinos once again draw a Nets team that had since relocated to Brooklyn.

Fans gather at Maple Leaf Square – it wasn’t Jurassic Park yet – for a pre-Game 1 rally. General manager Masai Ujiri delivers remarks to the throngs in a now infamous speech that earned him a $25,000 fine. Ujiri concluded his words with an emphatic “F--- Brooklyn!” to the delight of the thousands in front of him.

After that, it would truly have been terrible for the Raptors to fall to those Nets, so…that’s exactly what happened. Led by an Expendables-like aging core of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry, the Nets took down the Raptors in seven games to leave Ujiri and the team with serious egg on their faces.

The following year, the Raptors earned themselves a chance at redemption through a team- record 49 wins and another division title. Home-court advantage would provide the opportunity to flip the script on coming up short in the playoffs and win the team’s first-ever seven-game playoff series. It would be a battle of superstar backcourts with the Raptors’ tandem of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry set to take on the Washington Wizards and their duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal.

Improbably, it would go even worse than the year before did. The Wizards beat the brakes off of the Raptors in a humiliating sweep. The exclamation mark was a 31-point rout in Game 4, with the Wizards ending the series in a 125-94 walk.

Things got a bit better for the Raptors in the ensuing postseasons. The team managed to win four playoffs series in the next three years before having their torches snuffed out in the exact same manner – running into LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Raptors would go 2-12 against the Cavs over those three postseasons, with the two wins coming in their first meeting in the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals. Even as the 59-win top seed in the East in 2018, the Raptors couldn’t manage even a victory against The King. In those 14 games against the Dinos, James averaged 31.1 points. Those “LeBronto” memes didn’t come out of nowhere.

No matter what the Raptors did in rolling through regular seasons and curb-stomping contenders in February, when push came to shove, the team simply couldn’t hang around when it counted.

So even with the addition of Kawhi Leonard – inarguably the best all-around player to wear the Raptors uniform – and a new man at the helm of the team in Nick Nurse, promoted to head coach after Dwane Casey fell on the sword (the one in the Cavs’ logo if we’re being specific) following those three straight springs cut short by Cleveland, you could understand why those in the media south of the border remained skeptical of the Raptors and their chances to finally win the big one.

There wasn’t some kind of anti-Canadian bias at work here – history was on their side.

And then there was the matter of Game 1s for the Raptors, which happens to be where our 2019 story begins.

Prior to taking on the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the 2019 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, the Raptors had played in 15 playoff series (with three of them coming in the league’s old format featuring best-of-five first-round series). Of those 15 series, the Raptors were a less-than-sparkling 2-13 in the first game. A Game 1 loss for the Raptors was almost as certain as death and taxes.

But that couldn’t happen in 2019, could it?

This was the year that things were supposed to be different and besides, it’s the Orlando Magic, a team that was only two games over .500 and only reached the playoffs due to the traditional paucity of quality clubs at the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Put those 42-win Magic in the Western Conference and rather than a seventh seed, they’re a full six games out of the playoffs. And they won only 17 road games all season long.

Come on, what could possibly go wrong? It’s not like Kyle Lowry was going to be held scoreless, journeyman guard D.J. Augustin – who played 10 games for the Raptors in 2013 – would have a career night and another Game 1 loss would help to send Raptors fans into existential crisis…right? Right?

Here’s what some TSN personalities remembered about Game 1:

Kia Nurse - "The Six was buzzing for what was sure to be the start of a dream playoff run for the Raptors. So, I guess you could consider Game 1 versus Orlando a rude awakening. But they say it's better to get your 'not-so-good' games out of the way early, right? Worked for the Raps."

Jack Armstrong - “I remember walking out of the arena saying, ‘What happened? Who were those guys?’ Not the same Raptors’ D I watched during the season. That must change. It surely did after that.”

Kate Beirness - “I remember after D.J. Augustin hit that ridiculous circus shot to tie the game, wanting Magic coach Steve Clifford to call a timeout so bad when the ball was back in his hands with 10 seconds to go. He didn’t, and we all know what happened after that.”

Leo Rautins - “The loss to Orlando was a rude slap to the face! It wasn’t the same old - not this group. It was more of... let’s be us and lock teams down! Game 1 was too relaxed on D - inexcusable! From that point on, however, it was championship defence.”

Josh Lewenberg - “What do I remember about Game 1 versus Orlando? Yikes. I remember how quickly the atmosphere in that building turned from excitement to a familiar feeling of dread. We knew this was a different team, but it was hard not to think ‘Here we go again’ with D.J. Augustin going off and Lowry going scoreless. Spoiler Alert: it would turn out okay for Lowry and the Raps, and with the benefit of hindsight we know that Game 1 loss would end up being a turning point. Nurse lit his team up afterwards - something he almost never does. Message received. Their defence was next-level from there.”

Kayla Grey – “Ah, Game 1 versus Orlando. The ‘Welcome to the postseason – y’all remember D.J. Augustin, right?’ game. A sobering collapse in the second quarter, and Augustin - the same guy that played 10 games for the Raptors back in 2013 - drops 25 and plays hero for a Magic team that came into the playoffs with a newfound swagger, turning around their regular season to get to this point.”

Rod Black - “What I remember most of Game 1 - beyond the fact that my $25 food voucher only got me a soda and popcorn - was the BUZZ. Palpable. Pulsating. Inside and outside Scotiabank Arena. Just seemed different than previous playoff years. Not a chance that this 'Game One Curse' - even though we all were talking about it - would materialize. No worries, since this Raptor team was so different than past ones. Wait - doesn't D.J. Augustin play for the Magic?  That sucking sound you heard was the energy going 'pffffttt' from the building."

Game 1 of the 2019 Eastern Conference quarterfinals between the Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors is set for 8pm et/5pm pt on Sportsnet