NBA champions Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are your 2019 NBA Champions. The series completed this past Thursday, June 13. The Raptors were in control of the series most of the way through, especially after winning both games three and four in Golden State and taking a commanding 3-1 lead. The finals showed how great of a team the Raptors were, defeating the Warriors in Golden State in game six to win the title.
Toronto played as a team all the way through, never getting too high or too low throughout the playoffs, knowing that no series was over until the final buzzer sounded. Kawhi Leonard finished with 22 points in game six, finishing as your 2019 NBA Finals MVP; this is Leonard’s second finals MVP Trophy with the first coming with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 against the Miami Heat. This is the second time that Leonard has stopped a potential three-peat, with the Heat going for their third championship in a row in 2014, and the Warriors going for their third straight this season. This is also Toronto’s first major sports championship in 26 years, with the last title in the city coming in 1993 when the Blue Jays won the World Series. Although the Raptors won and deserved every bit of credit for this championship, the story of this series cannot be told without injuries.
The Golden State Warriors were derailed from the beginning, with Kevin Durant who is considered to be one of the best three players in basketball, being out until game five before getting hurt in the second quarter. Klay Thompson, who has been a core member of the Warriors three championships, was having an outstanding game before with 30 points before going down with a knee at the end of the third quarter. The Warriors were possibly on the way to forcing a game seven, with Klay Thompson being the main reason. After Klay was ruled out for the rest of the game, there was not much hope for the rest of the way. From that point forward, the Raptors took care of business, outscoring the Warriors by 6 points in the fourth quarter, sealing the championship for Canada.