NBA Finals Game 6
Pre Game: It’s do or die for the Warriors as we have Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
Game 1: It’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals. The Warriors shot great from 3 in Game 5 and that fueled by their defense helped them win 105-106. Now without KD who ruptured his Achilles unfortunately and will most likely will be out for most of next year. I will cover this more in detail later. But, the Warriors need to win at home, something they have struggled to do in series, 0-2 against the Raptors. The Raptors look avoid giving the Warriors another chance in Game 7 and look to win the series 4-2 over the defending champs. At the end of the 1st, the Raptors led by 1, 33-32. Kyle Lowry had 15 on 4/4 from 3, Klay Thompson had 10. The Raptors hit 7 threes in the 1st, and managed to have a lead despite Kawhi Leonard only having 4 points. At halftime, the Raptors led by 3, 60-57. Kyle Lowry had 21, and Klay Thompson had 18. The Raptors have still managed to hold onto a lead with Kawhi struggling. Klay Thompson was fouled and landed awkwardly. He hurt his right knee. He shot the free throws and then came out. Hopefully he is okay. The last thing the Warriors need is another All-Star injured and unable to return. At the end of the 3rd, the Warriors were up 2, 88-86. Thompson was on fire, scoring 12 of his 30 in the quarter. Kyle Lowry had 24 entering the 4th. No word on the extent of Klay Thompson’s injury or if he will return. The word on Klay Thompson is that he will not be able to return to the game, one less scorer for the Warriors.
Down to the Wire: The Raptors were up 106-101 with 2:49 left. Fred VanVleet had 12 in the 4 up to this point including 3 3’s. With 2:13 left Lowry pushed the lead to 6, 108-102. Draymond Green then answered with a 3, cutting the lead to 3, 108-105. With 1:37 left, Siakam made 1 of 2 free throws, making the lead 109-105. With 1:23, Cousins made 1 of 2, cutting the lead to 109-106. With 46.9 seconds left Cousins scored and cut the lead to 1, 109-108. With 26.5 seconds left, Siakam scored again pushing the lead to 111-108. Stephen Curry was fouled and made both free throws and cut the lead to 1, 111-110. The Raptors were forced to use their final timeout because they could not get it in. With 9.6 seconds left Danny Green turned the ball over and gave the Warriors one last chance to stay alive in the series. The Raptors were still up 1, 111-110. After a mad scramble, with 0.9 seconds left the Warriors called timeout, but they had none so the Raptors were awarded a technical free throw. The Raptors will also get possession after the free throw. Kawhi Leonard made the free throw, pushing the lead to 112-110. Kawhi Leonard got fouled and made both, pushing the leading 114-110. They eventually won 1114-110.
Post Game: Lowry had 26 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds, Pascal Siakam had 20 points and 6 rebounds, Kawhi Leonard had 22 points and 6 rebounds. Klay Thompson had 30 through 3 quarters, Andre Igoudala had 22, Stephen Curry had 21 and 7 assists. The Toronto Raptors now win their first NBA Championship and the Warriors dynasty is all but over. Kawhi Leonard has led this Toronto team to the NBA Championship, but he could not have done it without Lowry, Siakam and VanVleet. I will cover the Warriors side of thing in my next post and assorted NBA News. The Finals MVP was awarded to Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi deserved this award for carrying the Raptors to this point throughout the playoffs and the rest of the Raptors came up big in the Finals. Kawhi Leonard joins Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and Lebron James as people who have won Finals MVP on 2 different times.
As the NBA Finals comes to an end, so does this magical NBA season. Please leave a comment on what your favorite moment was and what will come in free agency. Congratulations to the Toronto Raptors for winning the 2019 NBA Finals, and my thoughts and prayers go to Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant, who both went down with injuries during this Finals, a speedy recovery.
