Warriors battered, broken and beaten in the end
OAKLAND, Calif. — The end. Of Oracle. Of the season. Of a dream. Of a championship run and, perhaps, of a dynasty.
In an epic send-off game, on a “strange, unique night,” as Steve Kerr christened it, it ended.
In one of the most thrilling games in the 53-year history of the building, the Golden State Warriors lost to the Toronto Raptors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. Toronto clinched its first NBA championship in the final game in the Warriors’ home building.
It wasn’t the end that Golden State wanted. But it was definitely a finale that the old building deserved. Thrilling. Deafening. Heart-stopping.
The man who made Oracle home to the greatest show on earth had a clean look a 3-pointer with eight seconds left, but Stephen Curry missed it. The final seconds were a confusion as the officials tried to short out the ending.
But the buzzer finally sounded with the moan of “Warr-i-orrs” reverberating around the rafters. Oracle was over. The wounded, decimated Warriors were finished.
Ultimately, the Warriors couldn’t outlast a battle with the Raptors. But what they really couldn’t survive was a war of attrition. First Kevin Durant, whose absence was a palpable force in the arena, with rally towels and signs honoring him.
And then Klay Thompson, who had been carrying his team through the treacherous mines and tripwires of Game 6. In a “Game 6 Klay” performance, Thompson had 30 points and was going up for 32, when he collided with a Toronto player and fell to the court.
He didn’t get up. The building went silent. Thompson finally was helped to his feet and it looked bad — very bad. He was helped down the tunnel by Jonas Jerebko and Jordan Bell, not putting any weight on his leg. The sense of doom filled the arena.
But then, in the most Klay thing ever, Thompson suddenly came jogging back down the tunnel. The roar may have been the loudest in the 53-year history of Oracle. He shot his free throws and went back to the locker room. But, he was soon ruled out for the game with a knee injury. And later left the building on crutches, one of the saddest farewells one could ever see.
Even after Thompson’s exit, the Warriors battled. Even with only one true shooter on the floor in Curry — who was locked up by three defenders every time he touched the ball — the Warriors stayed in the game.
The veterans who have, at times, looked as though they were on their last legs, made big shots. Shaun Livingston hit two. Andre Iguodala was clutch, dropping in 22 points and making three 3-pointers.
But a stripped-down and totally gassed Golden State team didn’t have enough. Curry couldn’t get loose. Without Thompson’s defense, they couldn’t get enough stops. You could feel the game slipping away from them in the final minutes as the Raptors scratched back for the lead.
But it’s hard to kill the king. The game came down to a final shot. The performance was a far cry from what Kerr dubbed the “weird Game 4 a few days ago where we lost, and it sure felt anti-climactic, like this can’t be the last game at Oracle.”
This felt like it was, indeed, the last game. A disappointing farewell. But, still, a goodbye for the ages.