Exhilarating!  That’s how it’s felt watching the NBA playoffs and finals as the league’s top teams battled on the court for the championship.   Other than Drake and the die-hard fans of Toronto’s Jurassic Park, who would’ve thought that the Toronto Raptors, who hadn’t won a championship in its 25 season history, would have defeated the reining champion Golden State Warriors? While it’s true their star player, Kawhi Leonard, has lit the scene on fire with his rugged and dynamic play, that’s only one part of the story that defined the team’s success.

Like many other teams before them, the Raptors made it to playoffs on several occasions prior to this year, but never to the finals. This year was different.  In thinking about the Raptors’ story, and many other teams like them including the Dallas Mavericks, my husband (sports addict Alvin Terry) and I identified four characteristics that enabled these teams to go from good to so great they they are champions.

By paying attention and cultivating the four key characteristics, we too can take our teams from good to great!

The Four Characteristics

1.       Human Connection

“Enjoy the moment, stay here, stay together, we’re good”– Kawhi Leonard

Any player who makes the NBA is good at the basics.   And almost every team is focused on winning – they invest a lot of time in planning plays and practicing to do so.  But there are teams that are just plain better.  One of the most important factors that sets them apart is they invest the time in making genuine, human connections.  This often-overlooked, “soft” factor turns out to be a foundation for success. With championship teams, coaches and players get to know each other, not just as professionals, but as people. This deepens the level of understanding and commitment between players and within the team.   San Antonio’s famous coach Gregg Popovich built a dynasty of five championships largely on the principle of deep human connections. As told to Sports Illustrated in 2013, Popovich explained, “ Yes, we’re disciplined with what we do.  But that’s not enough. Relationships with people are what it’s all about. You have to make players realize you care about them. And they have to care about each other and be interested in each other. Then they start to feel a responsibility toward each other. Then they want to do for each other.”

Teams beyond the basketball court that invest the time in knowing and understanding each other develop authentic human connections.  This, in turn, allows them to be present, stay together, enjoy the moment—and succeed.

2.       Learning from Adversity 

“If you don’t fall, how are you going to know what getting up is like?”  – Steph Curry

Having experience sets the stage for individuals and teams to identify challenges and opportunities, and to work them and take advantage of situations more quickly.  However, the teams that rise to championship levels have lived through adversity – states or instances of serious of continued difficulty or misfortune – and have learned from it.  Both the Mavericks and Raptors had made it to the playoffs many times in the past. Only after several heartbreaking defeats and lessons learned did these teams manage to muster the energy and will, and perhaps get comfortable with the uncomfortable, ultimately rising to the occasion to win it all.

“You have to learn to lose before you can learn to win”  – Michael Jordan’s wisdom to Shaquille O’Neal when O’Neal’s Orlando Magic lost to Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in 1995   The Crossover 2015.

Experiencing, persevering through and learning from adversity – and with others –  sets the stage for individual and team resilience and the ability to continuously look toward the goal.

3.       Willpower

“If it wasn’t for the determination and the willpower we have…. we wouldn’t have pulled through and got this win.”  – Lebron James on the USA win against Spain

Continuing to press forward when you’re at a 20-point deficit is hard.  Believing in yourself, and your fellow teammates when a player goes down and has to leave the game is hard.  Pushing through the last 5 minutes of play when you’ve been on your feet and on the move for what feels like forever is hard.  Persisting in the face of adversity is hard.  Having the will, the mental fortitude and determination to keep going when things get tough separates those teams who are good from the teams that are great.

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”– Michael Jordan

Wanting and wishing are not enough.  With only 4.2 seconds remaining in the final game of the 2019 NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs, the Raptors found a way to inbound the ball to Kawhi Leonard who miraculously found space for a  buzzer-beating shot that bounced on the rim a jaw-dropping four times before dropping in and sending the Raptors to the NBA Finals.  Leonard and the Raptors made it happen.  Having the will, the mental fortitude and determination to keep going when things get tough separates those teams who are good from the teams that are great.

4.       Support 

“You can feel the vibes, feel the people pulling for you” – Julius Irving (Dr. J)

Even the most confident, high-performing people need support – especially in the context of a team.  What does support look like?  Coaches who pay attention and listen for and acknowledge what’s needed.  Teammates who allow themselves to be flexible – being open to taking the lead and also willing to play support. Enthusiastic fans who continue to stand and cheer in the midst of a deficit (is there any fan base more fanatical than the people who hang out in Toronto’s Jurassic Park?).  The families and dear friends who offer their love and support from behind the scenes.  It’s the sincere, consistent, emphatic support that energizes and fortifies the players, and ultimately the team. It often catapults them to heights that they very likely would not have reached absent such expressed love.

Assistant Coach Chip Engelland of the San Antonio Spurs describes Gregg Popovich’s approach:  “He delivers two things over and over: he’ll tell you the truth, with no BS, and then he’ll love you to death.”

Support, in the form of love – “a feeling of deep affection, expressed”- from teammates, coaches, family and fans uplifts, enables and even emboldens team members and the team as a whole to take themselves to a whole other level.

In what ways do you cultivate these characteristics in your teaming?  The stronger your foundation of human connection and the more that you invest in creating the conditions that allow the other key characteristics to flourish, the further down the path you and your team will be to championship-level performance.   And who doesn’t love being a champion?!  Congratulations to the NBA’s 2019 Champions, the Toronto Raptors – and best of luck to all of you in your continued teaming!