One. Win. Away.
Raptors coming back to Toronto to host Game 5 of NBA finals leading series 3-1
One win to go. One win for history.
The amazing Toronto Raptors, on an off night, struggling to find their game, struggling to shoot, on the road for what might be the last game ever at Oracle Arena, somehow took over the game in the third quarter and pushed their way to a 3-1 lead in the best- of- seven NBA Finals series.
Three- one in the series. It is true although it doesn’t seem possible. It sure didn’t seem probable. But on Friday night in Oakland, honest, it looked rather impossible. And somehow they did it.
The Raptors have become that team that doesn’t give up, no matter what the score, no matter what the circumstances and everything seemed to be going against them for so much of the first half: You knock them down, they get back up. They keep on fighting. They do it against the most talented team of this generation, even if the Warriors are missing Kevin Durant.
And early it looked like a
defeat, an evening of the series, and then the third quarter began, and the defending champion Golden State Warriors, appeared to wilt. The Raptors defence tightened. The historical sign of great teams: They win on nights when they’re not at their best.
They weren’t at their best Friday night and now they are one win — with three games left — away from the first major league Toronto championship in 26 years, the first NBA title ever, he first coast to coast win in professional sports since Joe Carter hit a home run 26 years ago and almost all of Canada celebrated. It is that close after a 105-92 win. It is that remarkable.
For so much of Game 4’s victory for the Raptors - they trailed at the end of the first quarter, trailed at the end of the half, and began to separate themselves from the Warriors in a 37-21 third quarter, which was so much about the brilliance of Kawhi Leonard.
Leonard, and maybe Serge Ibaka coming off the bench, supplied regular offence for the Raptors. But not much else. Leonard had 31 points by early in the fourth quarter, where his fellow starters, Pascal Siakam, Danny Green, Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol had hit on only eight of 32 shots with about 10 minutes to play, this coming after all five starters shot better than 50% in Game 3.
It’s hard to believe all this is happening, so fast, happening since the Raptors lost the first two games in Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals. Since then, the Raptors are 7- 1 against the Bucks and Warriors. That seems impossible, but it’s happening. They beat the best team in the league four straight. They’ve beaten the Warriors three out of four in the Finals series.
Seven and one against the best and brightest of the NBA: And two wins at the soon to be closing Oracle Arena. And one more to go. One more win. One more night. And then, elation and celebration.
But first, there’s a win to get. It didn’t look like it was coming Friday night. Klay Thompson, missing from Game 3 with a hamstring injury, returned for Game 4. He didn’t look hurt at all last night. He didn’t limp and more than that had no trouble shooting the basketball. Thompson is one of the greatest shooters to ever play and he shot brilliantly. Thompson looked like he was going to carry his Warriors back in the series. Tie this thing up.
But it wasn’t enough — not in the second half where Leonard and Serge Ibaka coming off the bench, were spectacular. In Ibaka’s first 20 minutes played, he had an incomprehensible 20 points. Combined, they scored more than half the Raptors points heading to the finish line. If Ibaka, who blocked six shots in Game 3, has ever had a better playoff game than last night, no one could remember when.
He was incredible. Leonard had his best game of the series - and when nobody was hitting any shots in the first half, Kawhi was keeping the Raptors close.
He did more than he has managed in the previous three games. His ability to hit big baskets was spectacular. This is what the team has talked about since acquiring Leonard last summer. It was talked about but not necessarily believed.
And it’s this close to believing time.
You could almost feel the end coming in the fourth quarter, when Danny Green hit his first basket of the night, after missing his first six shots, putting the Raptors up 15. The Raptors won this night without much scoring from Lowry, from Pascal Siakam, from Marc Gasol, with so much of their scoring coming from the three point line.
The Raptors won with tight defence. In the first three games, Golden State scored 109 in each of the games, only one of them a victory over for the champions. Friday night felt different. Friday night was about nerves. Friday night was about struggling. Friday night was about finding a way where there seem to be any. The Warriors didn’t score 100 points against the stingy Raptors.
But Friday night was about putting the Raptors within a win of the NBA Championship.
Just one win. Just one more. That’s what they need. They can win the championship Monday night at the Scotiabank Arena.
Monday night. A game for a championship. A night of our dreams. Astonishing. Yes, astonishing,