Toronto Narrowly Beats Warriors to Capture 1st NBA Title

Golden State Warriors

vs.

Toronto Raptors

Toronto Narrowly Beats Warriors to Capture 1st NBA Title           

Yes, they did it!              

The chances appeared slim for them to do so for a long time. Perhaps the gamble on acquiring Kawhi Leoanrd was going to blow up in Toronto’s face. Perhaps the hex on their playoff appearances was too much.              

But they kept finding ways to survive, to win. They overcame deficits in each of their three Eastern Conference playoff series, and came back to win each time, most spectacularly in that wild shot put up by Leonard in the final seconds of Game 7 that took the right bounce for the Raptors, and got them through to the Eastern Conference Finals.              

Yes, the Raptors lost Game 1 to Orlando, and were down 2-1 to Philadelphia. And, of course, they were down 0-2 against Milwaukee, when many experts prematurely called that series a wrap at that point.              

The Raptors kept fighting, and they kept winning. They beat Orlando convincingly enough, survived Philadelphia, and then answered the Milwaukee Bucks two game home stand with their own wins at home in Games 3 and 4 to even the series up, then stealing a win at Milwaukee in Game 5, before wrapping up the series and winning their first ever Eastern Conference Championship in Game 6.              

Against the Warriors, luck seemed to be on Toronto’s side, much like it was when Leonard’s final shot against Philadelphia took a fortunate bounce and provided them with the final victory. They won Game 1 at home, but the Warriors managed to tie the series up, taking the first road win of the series.              As it turned out, it was the first of an NBA Finals record five straight road wins in the series, regardless of the team winning. The Raptors answered Golden State’s win at Toronto by beating the Warriors at Oracle Arena in Game 3, and then really applied the pressure on the defending champs by taking Game 4 on the road, as well.              

But Golden State are the defending champions, having won three of the prior four NBA titles. You knew that they were not done and, indeed, they responded like the champions that they are. The Warriors played a tough game in Toronto, when the Raptors had their first ever chance to capture the NBA title. Ultimately, Golden States managed to just squeak by, winning on the road to bring the series back to Oracle Arena for one last game. Win or lost, this was going to be their last game ever at their arena in Oakland, as they will be leaving for Chase Arena in San Francisco next season.              

It was a fitting end, as the two teams put on an intense and exciting game, filled with momentum swings and numerous lead changes and, of course, the obligatory exciting finish. Also fittingly, it came down to a shot by Stephen Curry. His shot from the corner of the three point line as time was quickly running out on the Warriors came fairly close to going in, but it did not. Then, Toronto recovered the ball, but Warriors players pressured and forced another turnover and called a quick timeout. The problem was that they had no timeouts left, although the stoppage of the clock was probably worth the technical foul that it cost them. It game them a slim shot, however remote.              

But Leonard got the shot, and then got fouled when he caught the ball with about one second remaining, and he calmly sank both free throws to put the game out of reach for the Warriors, and basically ice the championship for Toronto.              

Kawhi Leonard was named the NBA Finals MVP for Toronto. That means that he made history as one of only two men in history to have earned that distinction playing for two different franchises. The other two were Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who won it with both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers, and LeBron James, who won it with the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Leonard managed to not only win the NBA Finals with two different teams, but he was also named NBA Finals MVP when the San Antonio Spurs won it with him in 2014, and now with Toronto this year. It sure seemed that he was the missing piece for the Raptors to finally assemble a championship team. The gamble that the team took to acquire him has paid off in a huge way now, clearly.              

For the Warriors, this was obviously a disappointing end to what they hoped would be another NBA championship season. They were going for a third straight title, which is a rare feat. Instead, they joined the 1989 Los Angeles Laker and the 2014 Miami Heat as teams that came close to achieving a three peat, but ultimately lost in the NBA Finals.              

Some of it was just bad luck for them. After all, Kevin Durant had suffered a serious injury that kept him out of most of the playoffs following his injury weeks ago in round 2 against the Houston Rockets. He came back and gave it a go in Game 5 in Toronto, and in fact, he did help the Warriors win that game. But it came at a huge price, as he suffered an even more serious injury than the one that had sidelined him in the first place.              

Then during Game 6 yesterday, Klay Thompson was enjoying a brilliant game and helping his team in enormous ways, before going down with a torn ACL. Yet, despite being seriously shorthanded, the Warriors showed the heart of a champion, as they fought to remain in a game that some believed they had no business staying alive for, given the injuries and general bad luck that seemed to follow them around in the postseason.              

Both teams now face some serious questions heading into the postseason. There is talk that the Warriors might be taken apart, and that this might have been the last stand of what has come to be a great dynasty that helped define and change the game in the later half of the twenty-teens. And the Raptors, on their end, have questions about whether or not Leonard will return or not. One might imagine that he would opt to stay in an obviously very good position with his new team in Toronto, but you never know.              

For now, though, the fans up north in Toronto, and indeed throughout Canada, can celebrate the first major North American sports championship since another Toronto team in another sport – the Blue Jays in 1993, last won a title. And there was already talk about the Raptors possibly winning more titles, and keeping the title up north for at least a few years, which would seem to suggest a dynast.              

I cannot be sure that they are on the verge of a dynasty or not. However, one thing for sure is that they did it this year. They managed to go all the way to the NBA Finals, and then managed to win it, as well. No matter what happens here on out, they got to enjoy lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the first time in franchise history, to the delight of fans who had congregated on the streets of Toronto to celebrate their team’s amazing and very memorable championship run.              

The Toronto Raptors just kept getting better and better as the season wore on, and they played the best team in the final round. Luck did happen to be on their side, but that often happens with championship teams. They performed brilliantly, did what they had to do, and achieved what they set out to achieve.   

In 2019, the Toronto Raptors managed to become NBA Champions.