OAKLAND, CALIF.鈥擣rom the cartoonish little dinosaur and gaudy pinstriped jerseys to world champions, a phenomenal quarter-century run ended in joyous celebration for the 海角社区官网Raptors.
After one final frenzied few seconds, when they seemed to be ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the Raptors finished off a 114-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors here Thursday night, capturing the first NBA championship in franchise history on their first trip to the NBA Finals, an unprecedented feat for a team that was once an afterthought in many fans鈥 minds.
鈥淏eautiful,鈥 team president Masai Ujiri said amid the bedlam of the champagne-drenched Raptors locker room. 鈥淛ust beautiful.鈥
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Players, coaches and team officials were chanting 鈥淢-I-P鈥 as presumptive most improved player Pascal Siakam doused himself with champagne; Ujiri stood off to the side like a proud father overseeing a kids birthday party.
The players who had made the sign of the claw 鈥 hand grabbing wrist and held aloft 鈥 when Kawhi Leonard was named the MVP acted as if a huge boulder had been lifted off them.
It was a night of incredible emotion and talent and big shot made after big shot made for the Raptors, whose rise from 1995 expansion team to 2019 NBA champions has been a winding, pockmarked journey that tried the patience of fans for almost a quarter of a century, but ultimately rewarded them for undeniable support.
鈥淛ust being able to win this championship this year is just something special for me, because you know how the last year everybody was looking at me, and I stayed true to myself and I had a great support system,鈥 Leonard said. 鈥淎nd once I got here to 海角社区官网they understood everything and kept moving from there.鈥
Kawhi Leonard and the 海角社区官网Raptors win the 2019 NBA championship, the first for a Canadian team.
GETTY IMAGESA Danny Green turnover with 9.6 seconds left in the game and 海角社区官网up a point 鈥 an errant pass along the sideline that was nowhere near Siakam 鈥 gave the Warriors a chance to extend the series.
But a Stephen Curry shot was tipped, the Warriors were unable to secure the ball in the ensuing scramble and Golden State was assessed a technical foul for calling a timeout they didn鈥檛 have.
Leonard, the near-unanimous choice as NBA Finals most valuable player, made the free throw and caught the ensuing inbound pass to seal the game.
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鈥淥bviously I didn鈥檛 come out in this series trying to win it,鈥 he said of the MVP award he won with 10 of 11 votes. 鈥淚t was a whole group collectively. Tonight Fred (VanVleet) played amazing in that fourth. Kyle (Lowry) played amazing tonight throughout the whole game. Pascal played big. I just kept striving and pushing and I ended up with the trophy, but everybody deserves it.鈥
But it was a fitting end, given what he鈥檇 provided to the team this season after the emotions that ran rampant when he was obtained at a significant cost.
鈥淚 texted Kyle the day after I got traded: Let鈥檚 do something special,鈥 Leonard said. 鈥淚 know you鈥檙e mad, your best friend left, but let鈥檚 make something happen.鈥
And they did.
鈥淭his is a strong minded, tough-ass group of guys,鈥 Raptors coach Nick Nurse said before the game. 鈥淚t really is.鈥
The victory ends a wonderfully exhilarating 24-game post-season run for the Raptors, who ousted the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks to get to their first NBA Finals. It is the most playoff games in one spring in franchise history 鈥 eclipsing 20 in the 2016 run that ended with a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference final 鈥 and has made an even brighter star out of Leonard, who was so central to the championship run.
With his 22 points in Game 6, he finishes with 732 points in the 2019 playoffs, the third-most by any player ever behind Michael Jordan (759 in 1992) and LeBron James (748 in 2018) and put an emphatic stamp on his first season with the Raptors. But it was a true team effort that provided the final victory when Leonard鈥檚 offence was off just a touch.
Lowry had a brilliant night with 26 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, VanVleet made a series of huge fourth-quarter shots and finished with 22 points, and Siakam had 23.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a gamer,鈥 Curry said of VanVleet.
The loss ended a dynastic run for the Warriors, who had won consecutive NBA titles before running into a Raptors team that was superior or equal in every facet of the game for most of the series.
And where Golden State goes next is going to be one of the pressing off-season issues league-wide. Kevin Durant, lost for the series with a blown Achilles tendon after a 12-minute stint in Game 5, can become a free agent in July, as can Klay Thompson, who was central to Thursday鈥檚 drama.
The Warriors were not going without a fight and Thompson, who never seems to get ruffled, was brilliant. He had 30 points on just 12 shots, but had to leave the game with a couple of minutes left in the third quarter after he suffered an apparent knee or leg injury when he was fouled by Danny Green on a dunk attempt. He came back to shoot the free throws after the foul, but immediately limped back to the locker room and left the arena on crutches.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not really the most popular opinion, but as a guy who鈥檚 been with Klay for seven years, I don鈥檛 know many people with as much heart as Klay,鈥 the Warriors鈥 Draymond Green said. 鈥淪o the way he was playing, as aggressive as he was, he was carrying us and when he went down obviously we lose a lot.鈥
The game was riveting from the moment Lowry opened it with a personal 8-0 scoring run, brilliant offence and shot-making and a contest worthy of a championship series. It should not have been too surprising, given the veteran nature of each roster and what the stakes were.
Lowry, sometimes incorrectly maligned for his playoff performances, was sublime with 21 points, six rebounds and six assists in the first half alone. He set the tone with a driving layup on Toronto鈥檚 first possession and three-point field goals on the next two.
But after such a wonderful first half, an old nemesis caught up with Lowry early in the third quarter: foul trouble.
He got two quick personals in the third quarter, to give him four for the game and force him temporarily to the bench. The fouls are often a byproduct of him trying to do just a little too much, and his fourth took some steam out of the Raptors.
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