drake raptors locker room

Drake crashes Raptors' locker room with postgame speech after surprising win

The Toronto Raptors might not have been expected by many to win Wednesday night's contest against the Phoenix Suns, but they got a bit of a surprise once they did.

Playing Tuesday night in Brooklyn against the Nets, travel issues on the way home caused the Raptors to not get back to the city until about 4 am.

With the short turnaround and a rested Suns team coming in on a seven-game win streak, it seemed as close as possible to a scheduled loss as there is in the modern NBA.

But Toronto took an early lead and never looked back, gutting out a 112-105 win over the Suns, who were led by Kevin Durant's 30 points.

Following the game, team ambassador โ€” and global music superstar โ€” Drake popped by the locker room for a few words with the team.

"By the way, incredible win," Drake said. "My dog [Scottie Barnes] has the chain on, I saw a lot of synergy, a lot of sharing the ball, a lot of great plays made. Congratulations boys, it's a regular season win but it's a great win nonetheless. We've gotta celebrate them."

Scottie Barnes led the way for Toronto with 23 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter.

Asked postgame about why he's been able to be successful in the fourth quarter throughout his career, Barnes joked, "I dunno, I guess I got that dog in me."

Drake was attending the game with his son Adonis, with the pair sitting in his usual courtside seats next to the Toronto bench. It's Drake's second appearance at Scotiabank Arena this season, having shown up earlier this month for a game against the Boston Celtics.

Up next for Toronto is an Eastern Conference battle against the New York Knicks, who come to visit Scotiabank Arena on Friday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m., with the game to be broadcast on TSN.

Lead photo by

Raptors


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