MENDOZA..

race-to-four series. Steve Kerr’s crew simply ran true to form. Aren’t they supposed to rule the Conference playoffs and the NBA Finals as well?

So formidable is Golden State that it dispatched Portland even without its mainstays Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins and Andre (not Marc) Iguodala—all nursing injuries.

To me, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are more than enough maim-material for the Warriors’ “three-peat” NBA championship.

That whether it is Milwaukee or Toronto that Golden State will battle in the Finals, it wouldn’t mean much—seemingly.

Already, the talk has narrowed down to this: In how many games will the Warriors wallop their Finals opponents?

If by a 4-0 sweep, no one will even raise a whimper.

Only the mother of Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard maybe if it’d be a Warrior-Raptor confrontation.

If it’d be a Golden State win over Milwaukee in the Finals, then maybe, if not certainly, all of Greece might be submerged in tears for Giannis Antetokounmpo’s failure to give the Bucks a much-anticipated victory.

Milwaukee’s drive for the NBA crown has taken a tragic twist when the Bucks lost at home on May 24, 2019, moving the overachieving Raptors a game away from the title playoffs.

Toronto’s 105-99 Game 5 victory was its third straight over Milwaukee, emphatically erasing a 0-2 deficit to grab a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Finals.

Again, Leonard’s game-high 35 points that went with his 7 rebounds and 9 assists made all the difference.

Suddenly, Leonard, whose calmness and cool demeanor yesterday was in stark contrast to Antetokounmpo’s backfiring grit of do-it-all stance, is on the cusp of a Finals stint in his rookie year with Toronto.