When RJ Barrett's miracle three rattled home with 1.2 seconds left, Matthew Knies lost his mind right along with the rest of Toronto.
Toronto Maple Leafs star Matthew Knies was in the building Friday night for one of the wildest finishes Scotiabank Arena has seen in years, and he had every reason to lose his mind along with everyone else.
Knies attended the Toronto Raptors’ Game 6 first-round playoff matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers, joining a sellout crowd desperate for a reason to believe. Heading in down 3-2 in the series, the Raptors’ season was hanging by a thread, and the night was shaping up to be a grim farewell to Toronto’s basketball season. With the Raptors trailing by a couple of points in the final minute of overtime, the atmosphere had turned funereal.
Then came the sequence that will be remembered for a while. After Raptors point guard Jamal Shead missed one of two free throws, the Raptors managed to pull within one point with 10.9 seconds remaining. That set the stage for RJ Barrett, who fielded the ball and heaved a desperation three-pointer from well beyond the arc. The shot looked like a prayer that wasn’t going to be answered. The ball caromed off the back of the rim, rocketed straight up into the air, and then dropped back down through the net, giving the Raptors a stunning one-point lead with just 1.2 seconds remaining on the clock.
Knies, there with a group of friends, was one of many who absolutely erupted when the ball fell through. Video circulating on social media showed the 23-year-old forward celebrating with the kind of unbridled joy that only a miraculous buzzer-beater can produce. You can take the guy out of the playoffs, the Leafs missed the postseason this spring, but you can’t take the competitor out of him.
Knies isn’t the only Leaf to have made an appearance at the Raptors’ playoff run this spring. William Nylander was spotted courtside during Game 4 of the series, the Swedish winger taking in the action from prime real estate near the floor. It speaks to the genuine crossover appeal these athletes have within Toronto’s broader sports community and perhaps to the fact that, with their own playoff run cut short, the Leafs have had some free time on their hands.
That last part stings a little. The Leafs missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade this season, bringing an abrupt and painful end to a year that carried genuine Stanley Cup aspirations before injuries and inconsistency derailed the campaign. For Knies in particular, the early offseason has been a period of reflection following a breakout 2023-24 in which he established himself as one of the most important young power forwards in the Eastern Conference. Watching another Toronto team battle for its playoff life was surely a mix of inspiration and reminder of what the Leafs will need to summon come next October.
As for the Raptors, they completed the comeback to win 112-110, forcing a deciding Game 7 on Sunday in Cleveland. Whether they can pull off the ultimate upset on the road remains to be seen, but Friday night they gave this city exactly the kind of moment it needed, and Matthew Knies was right there for all of it.