Bruce Jenkins: The Raptors led 3-1 but now realize they might have missed their best chance to win.
The Warriors didn’t take on the world Monday night, but they dared to give lessons in championship mentality to a nation stretching 5,780 miles wide. Turns out it was a mismatch. Oakland lives, and Canada waits.
There will be another game at Oracle Arena because the Toronto Raptors couldn’t close the deal on an evening when everything seemed locked in their favor. They had a sellout, red-clad crowd absolutely certain of victory. They had nearby Jurassic Park overflowing with fans shrugging off a persistent rainstorm. They had fans from Vancouver to Newfoundland watching a national telecast, tossing chips, shot glasses and plaudits into the air.
And if that wasn’t enough, just when it appeared Kevin Durant was making a dramatically spectacular return to the Golden State lineup, he came up lame on his sore right leg and left the court with apparent damage to his Achilles
tendon, certainly ruling him out for the remainder of the series that resumes in Oakland on Thursday night.
It’s easy to call this a momentary setback for a team still leading the Finals 3-2. For most of this series, especially with Durant injured and other Warriors nursing significant injuries, Toronto was the better, stronger and healthier team.
None of that matters, sometimes, in sports. The Warriors are now in their fifth season of showing people what it means to be a winner, how a champion’s heart cannot be measured, how years of dominance instill a certain belief, roster-wide, even when it all seems to be falling apart.
This was a night to doubt the Warriors’ mettle at your peril. To not be so certain this dynasty cannot persevere into the San Francisco years. All opinions are valid at this stage, with the Warriors so often looking vulnerable, but the truth unfolds on the court, in the most pressure-filled moments.
When the Raptors assess this 106-105 loss, they’ll watch video clips full of great moments from Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala ... you know, the usual suspects. And the Raptors will realize that outside of Kawhi Leonard, who looked very much like a man ready to personally bring home a title, they didn’t have what it takes. Pascal Siakam, Danny Green and Fred VanVleet, so crucial to the Raptors’ cause, had forgettable games.
It’s worth noting what Leonard accomplished in the desperate, final episodes of the fourth quarter, because it called up memories of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and the other heroes of NBA playoff lore. It had been his series going into this game, and now he seemed to be crushing the Warriors’ spirit with a pull-up 3-pointer with 5:13 left, a driving layup shortly afterward for a 98-95 Toronto lead, a deep 3-pointer over DeMarcus Cousins, then a pull-up 12-footer to go up 10397.
Who thought the Warriors could come back from that? Well, they did — and when it comes to a truly great, timetested team playing on the road, nothing else is necessary. What must really discourage the Raptors, as they review this game, is that they couldn’t take advantage of some remarkable good fortune. Cousins was called for offensive goaltending off a Curry miss with 1:59 left, illegal under NBA rules but dismissing the fact that Cousins did nothing wrong. Green awkwardly stepped into the backcourt with 37.5 seconds left, handing Toronto a turnover. Cousins was called for goaltending on a Kyle Lowry drive, then for a moving screen on VanVleet with 15.7 seconds left.
How many cues did the Raptors need? More than they were going to get, apparently. When it came down to the finish, Leonard holding the ball on the game’s final possession and Toronto trailing by a point, the Warriors turned in a textbook defense. Iguodala joined Thompson on a doubleteam. Leonard was forced to give up the ball, which for the Warriors was a precious gift. It went to VanVleet, beyond the top of the key, and finally to Lowry in the left corner — open for just a moment before Green rotated off Marc Gasol and turned that 3-point attempt into a horrible miss.
So far away, back in Oakland, fans jammed Oracle Arena for a watch party. The hope, somehow, was to erase the memory of Game 4, when the sight of joyous, dancing Raptors fans put an apparent end to Oracle Arena for good. Canada must step aside for now, as the Finals return to being an Oakland story — with all the drama and tension befitting the event.