Jay Satur

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The summer of 2014 has become the season of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

It's dominated social media this month, with several celebrities taking and issuing the challenge of having a bucket of ice water dumped over your head. The appeal is obvious. It's a simple concept, it's not so much "paying it forward" as "calling others out" and some of the reactions have been high comedy.

Most importantly, it's raising a ton of money The ALS Association -- the national non-profit organization fighting Lou Gehrig’s Disease. On Thursday, The ALS Association announced that $41.8 million in donations had been received between July 29 and August 21st -- up from $2.1 million during the same time period last year.

The Raptors have been a part of it, starting at the top. MLSE President and CEO Tim Leiweke went for the largest public reach approach on Wednesday by showing his soaking live on all MLSE team networks and websites. Leiweke announced MLSE would make a $5,000 donation, while he would personally add $1,000.

Head coach Dwane Casey gets my vote for best reaction and to his credit, makes sure both of his kids get to drench dad.

UPDATE: Masai Ujiri accepts the challenge from Casey... somewhat of a delay on the scream here.

DeMar DeRozan went for the team approach with his USAB teammates...

Jonas Valanciunas handled the cold OK while calling out some Lithuanian legends.

Kyle Lowry made it look like taking a charge... easy.

Patrick Patterson responded to the challenge from Eric Bledsoe...

But the challenges didn't end there. No one made the challenge sound better than Raptors play-by-play announcer Matt Devlin. Bonus points for doing it in the suit.

That was a result of a challenge from broadcast analyst Leo Rautins...

The Raptor came ready with the speedo, but even he wasn't prepared for the cold.

The Raptor's challenge to the Raptors Dance Pak? Also met.

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Raptors Get Soaked In Support Of ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Related: Day 1 &amp; 2 Recap | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 &amp; 8

Friday was all about compeition at the Basketball Without Borders camp in Johannesburg. After going 2-0 in their games on Thursday, "Team Raptors" opened the day with a semi-final matchup. 

With a victory, Dwane Casey's squad then moved on to the finals against "Team Rockets", which was played at the larger Wembley Stadium in Johannesburg. 

Amir Johnson watches on anxiously from the bench...

The game also featured a little added star power with an appearance from recording artist Aloe Blacc... 

In the end, it was Casey's "Team Raptors" coming up victorious to win the camp tournament and cap an outstanding week of learning the game at BWB Africa.

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Team Raptors Triumphant At BWB Africa

A group of Raptors have made the trek to Africa for the better part of August, beginning with a stop in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Raptors president and general manager Masai Ujiri, head coach Dwane Casey, assistant coach Jama Mahlalela and forward Amir Johnson are all on hand for the first leg of the trip to take part in a Basketball Without Borders camp.

Thanks to our excellent crew from Open Gym, we've got some great photos and video to share below. Much more to come from this amazing journey!

Coach Casey began his trip with a visit to the Apartheid Museum. 

The day concluded with a reception for all involved in this year's Basketball Without Borders Africa camp. 

Masai Ujiri poses with legendary centre Dikembe Mutombo, NBA Chief Strategic and Financial Officer Jason Cahilly, NBA Vice President for Development in Africa Amadou Gallo Fall and NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum. 

Amir Johnson then headed with a group from the camp to the SOS Children's Village. Regardless of the continent, Amir remains a huge hit with kids!

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Raptors Land In Johannesburg For Basketball Without Borders Africa

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This Week In Raptors Off-Court Performances...

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Raptors fans have become one of the big stories of this first-round series with the Nets and what’s been truly remarkable is the level of creativity we’ve seen from fans around the world an in all kinds of different ways.

Look no further than some of the amazing musicians with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, who teamed up for a Drake-inspired Raptors tribute mashup. Check it out below.

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Musicians From Toronto Symphony Orchestra Salute Raptors

Kat and Jay look at a potential history-making week for the Raptors, which also includes plenty of off-court appearances.

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#RTZ Weekly Lookahead: The Final Five

With the Raptors in Atlanta to face the Hawks on Tuesday night, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan stopped by the NBA TV Game Time set.

Check them out as they describe leading the Raptors through a majorly improved 2013-14 campaign and walk the GameTime crew through some of the basic plays and sweet spots that have led to their success this season.

Get ready for more Raptors on NBA TV, Tuesday's game against the Hawks was selected as the final Fan Night matchup of the season.

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Lowry, DeRozan Rep Raptors On NBA TV

Check out a recap of all the fun from Real Sports below, as the Raptors mixed and mingled with fans and colleagues from all MLSE teams and also made a splash with the reveal of their purple throwback jerseys to be worn for a handful of games in 2014-15.