by Flack » Mon Jun 17, 2019 6:33 am
Well, it ended in six. Congratulations to the Toronto Raptors for winning it all. We have done such a great job of making America great again that the new NBA champions are the only team based in Canada. Good job, everyone.
With the Raptors up 3-1 for game five, it would have been a storybook ending to put the Warriors away in Toronto. Instead, the Raptors blew a six point lead with 90 seconds left and lost the game by one point. I'm sure they, along with the rest of the country, felt like it was impossible to put GSW away.
Things looked worse for Toronto back in Oracle Arena when Kevin Durant, fresh off his calf injury that had him out for the entire series, walked back on to the court. Durant was on fire in the first quarter until he landed coming down from a jump shot and immediately went to the ground clutching his leg. A ruptured Achilles tendon put Durant not just out of the game, but probably out all of next season.
That left Curry and Thompson, the "Splash Brothers," to carry the load, and with Curry having a bad shooting night, the weight fell on Thompson. Then, late in the fourth, he too went to the ground, clutching his leg. Torn ACL; out of the game, and off the court for anywhere from 6-9 months.
With Cousins and Looney both playing through injuries, there just wasn't enough left of the Warriors to hold off the Raptors this time. With two healthy benches, there's no way the Raptors could have taken the title from the Warriors this year or any year, but sometimes it's less about which team is best and more about which team has more healthy guys standing after playing 100+ games.
Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Raptors' MVP Kawai Leonard are all free agents this summer. Both teams desperately want to keep their teams together for next year (it's amazing that teams would be willing to pay tens of millions of dollars to guys who can't walk), but time will tell. The NBA is a funny place.
This concludes our coverage of the 2018/2019 NBA playoffs. Thanks for another great year, and we'll see you next season. Go Thunder!
Well, it ended in six. Congratulations to the Toronto Raptors for winning it all. We have done such a great job of making America great again that the new NBA champions are the only team based in Canada. Good job, everyone.
With the Raptors up 3-1 for game five, it would have been a storybook ending to put the Warriors away in Toronto. Instead, the Raptors blew a six point lead with 90 seconds left and lost the game by one point. I'm sure they, along with the rest of the country, felt like it was impossible to put GSW away.
Things looked worse for Toronto back in Oracle Arena when Kevin Durant, fresh off his calf injury that had him out for the entire series, walked back on to the court. Durant was on fire in the first quarter until he landed coming down from a jump shot and immediately went to the ground clutching his leg. A ruptured Achilles tendon put Durant not just out of the game, but probably out all of next season.
That left Curry and Thompson, the "Splash Brothers," to carry the load, and with Curry having a bad shooting night, the weight fell on Thompson. Then, late in the fourth, he too went to the ground, clutching his leg. Torn ACL; out of the game, and off the court for anywhere from 6-9 months.
With Cousins and Looney both playing through injuries, there just wasn't enough left of the Warriors to hold off the Raptors this time. With two healthy benches, there's no way the Raptors could have taken the title from the Warriors this year or any year, but sometimes it's less about which team is best and more about which team has more healthy guys standing after playing 100+ games.
Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Raptors' MVP Kawai Leonard are all free agents this summer. Both teams desperately want to keep their teams together for next year (it's amazing that teams would be willing to pay tens of millions of dollars to guys who can't walk), but time will tell. The NBA is a funny place.
This concludes our coverage of the 2018/2019 NBA playoffs. Thanks for another great year, and we'll see you next season. Go Thunder!