Vince Carter revisits crushing Toronto Raptors Game 7 loss and infamous graduation trip
In their three-decade long history, it’s hard to find a player who had more of a roller-coaster tenure with the Toronto Raptors than Vince Carter.
Carter, who had his number retired in an emotional ceremony last November, helped put Toronto on the map as a basketball city as the organization’s first true superstar.
Still, Carter’s time in Toronto remains one of the great “what ifs?” in franchise history, as he had a tumultuous final season that ended in a trade to the New Jersey Nets.
Perhaps the best-remembered Carter moment came in Game 7 of the second round of the 2001 playoffs, where Carter had a chance to send Toronto to the Eastern Conference Finals with a last-second attempt at the buzzer. But Carter’s shot clanked out, and Toronto fell by an 88-87 score to the Philadelphia 76ers. He finished the game with 20 points on 6-for-18 shooting.
While many players have missed big shots over the course of NBA history, Carter picked up extra flak from the media and fan base for opting to attend his University of North Carolina graduation on the same morning as Game 7, after going back to school in the offseason to finish his degree.
“I made a promise to my mom that I would go back and get my degree if I left school early, which I did after junior year. Not only I did that … I am going to finish that job. That was finishing the job for me,” Carter told former fellow NBA star Dwyane Wade on stage earlier this summer at Fanatics Fest.
Carter had told his teammates about the plan, and they were in full support.
“I went to every player on that team, man to man, face to face and said, ‘This is what I am going to do. This is when I am leaving, this is when I will be back,'” Carter continued.
Carter also stated that MLSE had a backup plan in order to make sure he made the game on time.
With a 9 a.m. graduation time, Carter said there were hours to spare before tip-off, and he was right on time for his usual pre-game routine.
“I was the first one in the meeting,” Carter said.
It was the last playoff game Carter ever played for Toronto, but he didn’t seem to have any regrets about the trip.
“Look, I would do it that way any day…. Here’s what I messed up. [During the shot], I’m already thinking what I’m going to say, what I’m going to do, how I’m going to react to all these [doubters],” Carter said. “[But] I answered every question because like I’m not afraid of the moment and I wasn’t afraid of the backlash because I did what I had to do.”
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