The Toronto Raptors are the 2019 NBA Champions
The Toronto Raptors win Game 6 (114–110) and become champions for the first time in franchise history
Toronto as a team had a lot of pressure put upon them, there is the expectation of winning Game 6 on the road in order to avoid a potential Game 7 and also the pressure of an entire nation. There are no other franchises that are representative of a whole country which is a unique type of pressure. The Raptors did not let the pressure get to them and performed with the focus and precision that has been synonymous with their play in this post-season. The Raptors simply took care of business and are now NBA Champions for the first time in their history.
From the moment go, Toronto came out of the gates looking hungry and determined with Kyle Lowry going on a mini-run to get the Raptors out to a eight point lead before the Warriors had even scored a point. The game itself was one of the finest performances that Lowry has turned in as a basketball player. For Lowry, it is a vindication of all of the questions which he has faced in his career. Over the last five years, Lowry has been criticised by talking heads and fans alike for being inconsistent in the play-offs. At the start of this post-season, Lowry had a zero point performance against the Orlando Magic and was flamed for the game that he played despite the fact that many people do not fully understand Kyle Lowry’s game. Lowry’s game has never been about boxscore stats, it is all of about making winning plays and pure dogged determination. Lowry is defined by his nickname KLOE. KLOE stands for Kyle Lowry Over Everything and it largely means that Lowry impacts every aspect of the game.
In Game 6 Lowry had 26/10/7 (9–16 FG, 4–7 3P) and was so important in the timing of his scoring. The timing of making buckets is often overlooked for pure production, Lowry was important in terms of killing any momentum that the Warriors were developing in the first half. Every time that the Warriors found a three or a dunk, Lowry dropped in a deep three and quietened the crowd. The game that he played was also incredibly smart in terms of game awareness, in the first half Lowry made a point of scoring while the Raptors were sputtering. Lowry had twenty one points in the first half but did not look to force any action during the second half, he settled into the game and found his team-mates. Lowry’s sharp, effective passing found his team-mates and meant that the Raptors came back into the contest when it mattered.
The Raptors had outstanding scoring from the bench unit as well. Fred VanVleet was arguably the most important factor in this series for the Raptors as his play-making enabled Serge Ibaka while also killing the Warriors’ momentum. Fred VanVleet who had such a terrible start to the post-season and resisted any pressure to start playing more conservatively has been a revelation in this season. The Raptors’ ability to bring a guard off the bench who competes defensively, scores efficiently while moving the ball was such an important factor. FVV was important for the Raptors in terms of pestering Curry on defence and preventing the Davidson guard from getting into any shooting rhythm. Moreover, the Raptors having a tertiary creator was hugely important in terms of stretching the Warriors’ defensively. The Warriors did not have a guard defender except for Klay Thompson who could be put on VanVleet and take care of business. Once Klay went down, the Warriors could not restrict the Raptors’ backcourt from scoring the ball.
The other important aspect of the Raptors’ bench was Serge Ibaka. Serge Ibaka, who last made the Finals in 2012 with the Oklahoma City Thunder, was a steadying presence for the Raptors in terms of being solid defensively and offensively. Ibaka who is not the defensive monster which he was in Oklahoma has changed his game immeasurably. Serge has developed into a player who has a buttery shot from the mid-range and has a polished game around the rim while also having solid defensive smarts. Ibaka is not the block machine at the 4 position which he used to be but he is much more of well-rounded player who can contribute all of the floor. In this game, the fifteen points which he provided kept the game within a handful of possessions and never let the Warriors build a double digit lead.
The Toronto bench combined for thirty seven points which outscored the Warriors’ bench by seventeen points. The Warriors’ bench which consisted of six players in this game was inconsistent. The unit was solid defensively as players like Livingston and McKinnie played gritty on that end of the floor but the Warriors did not get enough scoring from the bench. DeMarcus Cousins’ played decently on offence but the Warriors needed more from Cousins despite the fact he had just come back from a quad injury. DeMarcus has one of the smoothest offensive arsenals in the NBA in terms of sheer variety. Cousins is a bruiser who can score down low while being able to space the floor out to the three-point line at an efficient clip. The twelve points scored by Boogie was nice but the Warriors needed more to stress the Raptors’ defence and partially replace some of the scoring that was lost by Kevin Durant’s Achilles tear.
The Warriors in their last game in Oracle had a difficult game which ultimately resulted in the Raptors winning the title. Klay Thompson who was rolling (30 points on 8–12 FG) went down with twelve minutes left game due to a collision with Danny Green. Danny Green went up to challenge Thompson at the rim off a fast break situation and collided with Klay. Klay landed awkwardly and tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament which meant that he missed the rest of the game on the advice of the Warriors’ medical staff. Klay going down took all of the wind out of the Warriors’ sails. The hot streak that Klay led the Warriors on came to a halt very quickly as the Raptors went to a Box and One defence.
The Box and One took Curry out of the game completely and forced the Warriors to run all of their offence through Draymond who had an inconsistent night. Green was elite in terms of rebounding the ball and played aggressively but he turned over the ball so much. The Warriors’ turnover tendencies were amplified by the Raptors’ stifling defence. It meant that Draymond turned the ball over eight times which did not allow the Warriors to get an offensive rhythm in which they could build a lead with just Curry and Draymond on the floor. The defence meant that when Curry came to take the clutch game-winning shot, he was out of rhythm and missed a look that he would usually knock down.
Despite the loss for the Warriors in their final game at Oracle, it felt like the last game in Oakland was a fitting tribute to a stadium which has seen so much drama over its forty seven years. The Oracle has played host to Run-TMC, We Believe and now the Hamptons Five and all of these teams connected with the people of Oakland. The swagger and realness that the Warriors have displayed over the last five year run was a perfect fit for Oakland, a city that is often overlooked. The Golden State Warriors and especially Draymond Green put Oakland on the map. It allowed fans to puff their chest out and walk around with pride.
The last game had all of the elements of an Oracle Classic. Klay Thompson was lights-out for quarters a time, Curry was draining threes so easily, even Andre Iguodala drew on the last vestiges of his athleticism and played a great game. Although the Warriors lost this game, it felt like a fitting tribute to the Oakland monument.
The future for both teams are unclear. The Raptors have won a championship but it is still unknown whether Kawhi Leonard will stay in The Six. There has been a lot of talk about Kawhi heading to Los Angeles to join the ascending Clippers. If Leonard leaves, Toronto’s chance of winning the championship again are drastically lower especially when the regression of older players like Marc Gasol and Kyle Lowry is considered. The Raptors’ starting five will not get any younger and it is pretty difficult to see the Raptors maintaining their current level unless Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam take a massive leap. Kawhi staying would make the Raptors the team in the Eastern Conference who runs the table for the next five years. Leonard is an MVP candidate who makes a team better by performing at an otherworldly level, when the Raptors retool for the future Leonard’s brilliance will mean that there are not huge fluctuations in terms of performance.
The Warriors in the short-term are not contenders to win a championship next season. Durant’s injury will keep him out until next year and Klay’s injury will keep him out until February 2020 at the earliest. The bench unit is fairly ineffective and will not likely be a contributing factor in winning play-off games next season. It is even possible that by December, the Warriors are not in a position to even make the play-offs. It will kill Steph Curry to carry the Warriors to the play-offs next season with every single defence keyed in on just him.
In some regards, it could be beneficial for the Warriors to have a year out where all of their players can get healthy and rest their legs after five long, hard seasons. A similar parallel which could be applied to this situation is Michael Jordan returning to the Bulls after one season playing minor league baseball. The time that Jordan had off gave him the opportunity to rest his body and prevent anymore mental pressure from wearing him down, the heavy crown that he wore as the defending champion went away while he entered into a sport where nobody expected anything of him. The hiatus from basketball gave Jerry Krause a chance to re-tool the roster with hungry veterans such as Dennis Rodman and Ron Harper.
The Warriors could go a similar path by re-signing Durant and Thompson to long-term deals while adding cheap young players through the draft. The Warriors have three second round picks that they could potentially use to add players who can fill out a bench of rotation players. The season would provide a chance for these players to get some seasoning and develop their game so that they could be contributors in the 2020–21 season. Even Steve Kerr who has talked about mental fatigue at length could take a sabbatical where he can play around with coaching concepts in a less pressurised environment.
Despite all of these other storylines, the only one that matters is that the Raptors are NBA Champions for the first time in their history. A team of veteran players who have been carefully pieced together by Masai Ujiri to form a roster that is deep and highly skilled. Vets like Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry who have been written off due to some of their flaws now own a championship ring, the vindication of their talents against all of their criticisms. For Canada as a whole, it is another step in improving that Canadian sports team can compete with teams south of the border. The Raptors have been so close for so many years and now finally they have proved that they have that championship DNA. The victory also changes the perception of Toronto in some regard which has been previously viewed as a perennial also-ran. In the past, players like Chris Bosh and Vince Carter tried really hard to make the Raptors a serious contender before eventually moving onto greener pastures and deep play-off runs. Now, Toronto has that championship that many teams do not have. The Raptors have become an attractive proposition for players as the city is fantastic, the management is shrewd and there is a championship-winning roster on hand to win games.
