Raptors built the bond between these brothers. But one of them isn´t here to see the team reach its biggest milestone
(The Star Food)

When the Raptors played, the fighting stopped.That’s how it worked in the Ahmed household in Mississauga, where brothers Moaz, Talha and Zayr Ahmed had been diehard fans since moving to Canada from Kuwait in 1995, the same year Toronto’s team was created.Any brotherly arguments were put on hold as the three watched every game together as kids, and as adults stayed connected and chatted about the team no matter which city each brother was in.Now, watching the Raptors come just one win away from an NBA championship, the feeling is bittersweet; Moaz is no longer with them.“Seeing them in the Finals, he’d be thrilled. It’s something he never got to experience,� said 27-year-old Zayr, of his brother who died in 2013 at age 29 after battling liver disease for years.“He was a loyal supporter no matter how bad things got, and they got bad,� Zayr said. “When we used to go to the games he was screaming, ‘Let’s go Raptors!’ when they went on runs, and let the refs hear it when they made a bad call.�Read more:Diehard Raptors fans camp out at Jurassic Park to wait for Monday’s gameHis family loves the Raptors, but this GTA man is a steadfast Warriors fanRepresented by Raptors: How one team connects the most diverse city in the worldTalha, 33, said the game “was just something that pulled us together. It didn’t matter if the team was terrible or the team was good. It was just our way of bonding.�It was also a lot more affordable to get into the Raptors. “Growing up, the Maple Leafs were good but it was expensive to go to a game or even play the game,� Talha said. With the Raptors, they got to support a team right from its start and watch it now get close to making history.But back when Moaz was a fan, the Raptors mostly “sucked,� aside from the Vince Carter and Chris Bosh eras, when they made it to the playoffs.“When the Raptors made that first p ...