Title: Some of your favourite Toronto sports highlights of the last few years? You can thank Kianna Klauck for that
Date: June 28, 2021
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I wrote about Kianna Klauck, one of the key replay operators for the Raptors and Leafs and one of the lone queer/BIPOC women in Canadian sports media.
Kianna Klauck had never sat down so fast.
Kawhi Leonard’s historic Game 7 shot against the Philadelphia 76ers hung above the rim, and several feelings tugged at her. Still just a couple of years into her career in sports, she’d yet to fully separate the fan in her from the employee. She watched Leonard’s shot bounce … and bounce … and bounce.
“It felt like an eternity,” Klauck said.
When Leonard’s shot finally fell through the rim after a fourth bounce, Scotiabank Arena exploded. It was the first walk-off winner in a Game 7 in league history, and the Toronto Raptors were headed to the conference finals, on the way to their first NBA Championship. Any number of snapshots from that incredible shot have become iconic Raptors images. Jordan Loyd, the “random guy in a suit,” crouching in wait. The team mobbing Leonard as he screams.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 