Toronto (Canada) (AFP) – Canada’s largest city will hold a championship parade on Monday for the Toronto Raptors, the first team outside the United States to capture the NBA crown.
The upstart Raptors dethroned the defending champion Golden State Warriors late Thursday to win the NBA Finals, 114-110.
With the victory — cheered across Canada — the team also became the first Canadian club to win a major North American sports title since the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays captured Major League Baseball’s World Series.
The parade, officials said, is scheduled to start at 10 am (1400 GMT) on Monday at the Raptor’s practice facility, OVO Athletic Centre, on Toronto’s west side and proceed along Lake Shore Boulevard into downtown, ending at city hall.
The last major championship parade in this city was held for the Blue Jays 26 years ago.
Newspaper headlines on Friday heralded the win with full front-page photos of star player Kawhi Leonard raising his arms in victory at Oakland, California’s Oracle Arena.
They shouted from sidewalk newspaper boxes “Prehistoric: Dinosaurs rule the Earth again” and “We the Champs” to passers-by, some just heading home after late night celebrations in several Canadian cities.
A few revellers got out of hand.
Toronto police said rowdy fans damaged two parked cruisers, shattering their windshields and denting their hoods, and an intoxicated man was dragged off a transit bus. A shooting just north of the outdoor downtown celebrations in Toronto, meanwhile, landed one man in hospital and another in detention.
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