Could go on forever
period, Klay Thompson and Shaun Livingston were trapped in the corner and on the baseline, scuttled the ball three separate times, which eventually found its way to Looney under the basket. In another year, that’s two points. Thursday, it rattled off rim and jump-started a Raptor fast break. After a hectic, broken play, the Raptors found VanVleet all alone in the corner for 3. Raptors by 5.
As much as anything, this is how the Warriors have receded. At their apex, the Warriors would punish teams on any broken play, as all great offenses do. Thursday, they couldn’t. The Raptors matched up too well against their signature plays.
On more than one occasion, Thompson would spring out of a scrum to receive a ball, the way he’s lost thousands of defenders across his career. But Kawhi Leonard would be standing there, waiting to make Thompson’s life miserable. The Warriors’ plays worked exactly as drawn, looked exactly as they always had, but Leonard was simply standing there like Bugs Bunny tapping Elmer Fudd on the shoulder.
The old Warriors ran over teams on these plays, made the game unfair, became champions. This time around, the Raptors erased them.
Even with their identity stripped down, the Warriors are a handful. This looked more like the team from 2012-13, which shook an invincible Spurs team before Curry turned an ankle. Two guys who could score, then one, and a bunch of role players playing their asses off. They were pushed to the brink, and it’s always thrilling to see a champion running on empty but stay in the fight just the same. In a way, it’s how that’s how they’ve played, even at their best.
Regardless of what happens this offseason, the Warriors will be without Kevin Durant next season. They won’t be able to replenish their bench without massively overhauling the roster. They’ll be back, but mortal again. They’ll need to rely on the old tricks, the old style, and hope there’s still enough left in the tank to get back over the hump. The NBA title belongs to The North.
A thriller in the final game at Oracle Arena — and perhaps the final game of a dynasty — ended when Steph Curry clanged a fadeaway 3-pointer in the waning seconds of the Raptors 114110 victory over the Warriors in Game 6 on Thursday.
As a result, Kawhi Leonard’s Raptors squad captured its first title in a doozy of a series, one that will be defined not only by its entertainment value but also, unfortunately, by injuries.
With Kevin Durant already shelved indefinitely, the Warriors were further diminished Thursday after
Klay Thompson hob- bled out of the arena with what was later revealed to be a torn ACL.. The Raptors took advantage, but it wasn’t easy.
Up one point with 9.6 seconds left, Toronto coughed up a turnover on Danny Green’s errant pass and gave Golden State an opportunity to win on the final shot. The ball found the player Golden State wanted after a broken play, but Curry’s shot — a good look — wasn’t close and capped a rough night for the two-time MVP.
“With the shot with Steph, it didn’t look like it was a good shot,” Leonard said. “I mean he hits those shots, but I wasn’t too worried about it at that moment. Obviously he can make that. He made it millions of times, but I just was focused on the rebound.”
The Raptors finished off the championship at the foul line and Leonard, who finished with 22 points, earned the Finals MVP. He joined LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players to win Finals MVPs with two different teams (he won with the Spurs in 2014).
“I wanted to make history here and that’s what we did,” Leonard said. “I’m still playing basketball no matter what jersey I have on. And the guys here