MANILA, Philippines – The Toronto Raptors took advantage of the absence of the Golden State Warriors’ stars Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson to win their first ever NBA title on Friday, June 14, 2019 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, USA.
Atoning himself for a sloppy miss that could’ve won game 5 in favor of the Raptors, Kyle Lowry hit 11 points in less than 2 minutes after the opening tipoff of game 6.
Not only Lowry was hot from the outside at the opener, Pascal Siakam joined the shooting spree and Toronto made 5 three pointers with over 8 minutes left in the first.
Terrific 1st quarter basketball by the Raptors but the Warriors also had a great time in their homecourt led by Klay Thompson.
Golden State’s scoring run put them just a point behind Toronto, 33-32 at the end of the 1st period.
Since Klay Thompson played seamlessly and Steph Curry was on and off in this game, Coach Nick Nurse tasked Fred Van Vleet to guard Thompson at the start of the 2nd quarter.
The squads traded basket and made the scoring tight. Although, Toronto sustained a very slim edge majority of this period.
Come midway of the second, seesaw battle began where all the points made by both teams came from the shaded lane.
Lowry tallied 21 1st half points while Thompson had 18 to cap off the 2nd quarter, 60-57 in favor of Toronto.
Steph Curry was quiet in the 1st half and opted to pass more rather than shoot. But at the start of the 3rd quarter, Curry finally found his rhythm from his usual territory but garnered 3 quick personal fouls in less than 3 minutes.
Not only Curry who was in foul trouble, Toronto’s Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard who were both performing well had 4 and 3 personal fouls respectively. Lowry was pulled out to preserve his 2 more personals while Leonard remained on the floor with over 6 minutes left.
At the 2:22 mark, Klay Thompson scared the Warriors fans as he hurt his knees after attempting a dunk over Danny Green and landed awkwardly on the floor. Thompson however, refused to leave the game to avoid another homecourt loss.
Lowry and Leonard’s fouls slowed down the Raptors and the reason why the Warriors were ahead after the penultimate quarter, 88-86.
Bad news struck Golden State in the fourth as Klay Thompson was declared not clear to play due to a possible knee injury. It was a double blackeye for the Warriors as Kevin Durant is out for the rest of the series after rupturing his right achilles in game 5.
Despite Thompson’s absence, his team still led the game early in the final canto. Thompson left the game with an amazing 30 points.
The Raptors were missing the offensive services of their big man, Marc Gasol, who didn’t make any basket in the last 3 quarters.
Stars of both teams went quiet in scoring. But the backups stepped up big time, Fred Van Vleet for Toronto and Andre Iguodala for Golden State.
Down to the last 2 minutes of the game, the Raptors possessed a 6-point lead but the Warriors managed to bring it down to a half-shot under a minute left.
Pascal Siakam drop a bucket to increase their margin to but Steph Curry completed his 2 foul shots right after it.
With 18 ticks left, the Raptors hung on a 111-110 lead but Danny Green threw the ball away after getting a full-court pressure and gave the Warriors a ray of hope.
The Warriors had the last say with 9.6 remaining. Curry took a long shot but missed. Players scrambled for the loose ball and went to Draymon Green’s hands.
Green called for the timeout but Warriors didn’t have any to call that resulted to a technical free throw and ball possession for the Raptors.
Leonard sank the charity, got fouled after the inbound, put the nail in the coffin with 2 more free throws, called the game over 114-110 and won Toronto Raptors’ first ever NBA Title.
Kawhi Leonard was named Finals MVP plum during the awarding.
Congratulations Toronto Raptors! #WeTheNorth #WeTheChamps
— Joey Boy Capos, The Summit Express
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| New kings in town! The Toronto Raptors are the new NBA Champions after dethroning the Golden State Warriors 4-2 | Photo Credit: usatoday.com |
Atoning himself for a sloppy miss that could’ve won game 5 in favor of the Raptors, Kyle Lowry hit 11 points in less than 2 minutes after the opening tipoff of game 6.
Not only Lowry was hot from the outside at the opener, Pascal Siakam joined the shooting spree and Toronto made 5 three pointers with over 8 minutes left in the first.
Terrific 1st quarter basketball by the Raptors but the Warriors also had a great time in their homecourt led by Klay Thompson.
Golden State’s scoring run put them just a point behind Toronto, 33-32 at the end of the 1st period.
Since Klay Thompson played seamlessly and Steph Curry was on and off in this game, Coach Nick Nurse tasked Fred Van Vleet to guard Thompson at the start of the 2nd quarter.
The squads traded basket and made the scoring tight. Although, Toronto sustained a very slim edge majority of this period.
Come midway of the second, seesaw battle began where all the points made by both teams came from the shaded lane.
Lowry tallied 21 1st half points while Thompson had 18 to cap off the 2nd quarter, 60-57 in favor of Toronto.
Steph Curry was quiet in the 1st half and opted to pass more rather than shoot. But at the start of the 3rd quarter, Curry finally found his rhythm from his usual territory but garnered 3 quick personal fouls in less than 3 minutes.
Not only Curry who was in foul trouble, Toronto’s Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard who were both performing well had 4 and 3 personal fouls respectively. Lowry was pulled out to preserve his 2 more personals while Leonard remained on the floor with over 6 minutes left.
At the 2:22 mark, Klay Thompson scared the Warriors fans as he hurt his knees after attempting a dunk over Danny Green and landed awkwardly on the floor. Thompson however, refused to leave the game to avoid another homecourt loss.
Lowry and Leonard’s fouls slowed down the Raptors and the reason why the Warriors were ahead after the penultimate quarter, 88-86.
Bad news struck Golden State in the fourth as Klay Thompson was declared not clear to play due to a possible knee injury. It was a double blackeye for the Warriors as Kevin Durant is out for the rest of the series after rupturing his right achilles in game 5.
Despite Thompson’s absence, his team still led the game early in the final canto. Thompson left the game with an amazing 30 points.
The Raptors were missing the offensive services of their big man, Marc Gasol, who didn’t make any basket in the last 3 quarters.
Stars of both teams went quiet in scoring. But the backups stepped up big time, Fred Van Vleet for Toronto and Andre Iguodala for Golden State.
Down to the last 2 minutes of the game, the Raptors possessed a 6-point lead but the Warriors managed to bring it down to a half-shot under a minute left.
Pascal Siakam drop a bucket to increase their margin to but Steph Curry completed his 2 foul shots right after it.
With 18 ticks left, the Raptors hung on a 111-110 lead but Danny Green threw the ball away after getting a full-court pressure and gave the Warriors a ray of hope.
The Warriors had the last say with 9.6 remaining. Curry took a long shot but missed. Players scrambled for the loose ball and went to Draymon Green’s hands.
Green called for the timeout but Warriors didn’t have any to call that resulted to a technical free throw and ball possession for the Raptors.
Leonard sank the charity, got fouled after the inbound, put the nail in the coffin with 2 more free throws, called the game over 114-110 and won Toronto Raptors’ first ever NBA Title.
Kawhi Leonard was named Finals MVP plum during the awarding.
Congratulations Toronto Raptors! #WeTheNorth #WeTheChamps
— Joey Boy Capos, The Summit Express
