Thank God.
Anyway, Fred VanVleet was on fire. My God, what a fourth quarter he had. He won the game for them.
This is why I’m a sports fan. We don’t win often in Toronto, but when you win, it’s the most wonderful thing.
I won’t deny that they did beat some good teams on their way up, but Toronto was starting to tense up a little and I wonder what would have happened if they had faced GSW at full strength. Facing Philadelphia and Milwaukee on their way up is not the same as facing a team that’s played together and won championships in three out of the previous four seasons (and probably would have won a 4th had Draymond Green’s head not exploded).
I’m not saying that to trash Toronto - I was actually pulling for them to win. But as a casual sports fan and observer/commentator, it needs to be said that Toronto at full strength beat a Warriors team that was hobbled with injuries. It happens. As a sports fan, some of my team’s winners have benefited from injuries.
Injuries have been a part of more playoffs in more sports than one can count. No one’s fully healthy at season’s end.
As you said, no one will remember. Do you remember the injuries that affected the 1967 World Series? Super Bowl XI? The '96 Stanley Cup Finals? Neither does anyone else.
Anyone see this incident involving Masai Ujiri?
Didn’t have the proper credentials!?
He’s fucking 6’4, wearing a suit that’s worth more than that cop makes in a month and headed onto the court with an entourage of team execs.
Meanwhile… everybody else seems to be allowed to mill around at will.
Watching the highlights - wow, Danny Green’s error near the end of the game could have cost Toronto the game and perhaps the series. He had absolutely no need to pass the ball while being guarded by Draymond Green - he could have just held on to the ball and run out the clock, forcing a foul. Instead, he threw an ill-advised pass that resulted in a turnover and Warriors ball (Toronto leading only 111-110.) He didn’t even throw it to the right guy, someone much closer who could have handled the ball.
While he made a bad pass, he certainly could not have realistically just held on to the ball and run out the clock.
That “didn’t have the proper credentials” thing is bullshit. Look at the video; he’s clearly holding up for the cop to see. I’d bet a lot that this is a racist cop who can’t believe that a black man is a team executive.
Sure he could have. There were only 12 seconds remaining (and shot clock didn’t apply.) He could have wrapped up the ball with his arms, forced a foul, then took free throws.
In a thrilling Game 6 that saw numerous lead changes and exciting moments, the Toronto Raptors closed out the Golden State Warriors, ending their chances of a three-peat, with a win at Oracle Arena in Oakland.
The win marks the Raptors’ first NBA championship. Since the Vancouver Grizzlies’ move to Memphis in 2001-02, the Raptors have been Canada’s sole NBA franchise.
This also marks the first Big 4 championship for a Canadian team since 1993, when the Toronto Blue Jays won Major League Baseball’s World Series and the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup.
In one of the more dramatic moments in the third quarter of Game 6, the Warriors’ Klay Thompson was fouled attempting a lay-up, and was helped off the court during the commercial break. Someone apparently reminded Thompson, while he was back there, that if he left without shooting the free throws, someone else would have to, but then Thompson would be ineligible to return to the game.
So he came back out, hit both from the line, and DeMarcus Cousins committed an intentional foul on the ensuing Raptors’ possession so that Thompson could leave the game. He never returned. He was later diagnosed with a torn ACL, meaning that both he and his teammate Kevin Durant will be entering their summer of unrestricted free agency with injuries that may put them down for a long time. (It’s already confirmed that Durant is likely to miss all of next season.)
Near the very end of the game, the Warriors missed a shot, there was a mad scramble for the ball around half-court, and the Warriors got possession and called a timeout that they didn’t have, with 0.9 seconds remaining. It was quite likely a deliberate strategy to stop the clock; otherwise their time would have run out right there. The Raptors took a technical foul shot, regained possession, and Kawhi Leonard got fouled shooting a missed layup.
That’s when things got really weird. The time clock was now at 0.0, and Jurassic Park was celebrating, but after a long delay, 0.9 seconds were put back on the clock. Leonard calmly hit both foul shots to put the Raptors up by four, and the Warriors inbounded to end the game.
If he just wrapped the ball in his arms and held it still, Draymond would have almost certainly forced a jump ball. By swinging it around to avoid a tie-up, he was in perilous danger of a backcourt violation.
So if Kawhi Leonard, Marc Gasol, and Fred VanFleet had gone down to injuries and the Warriors had won, we wouldn’t be talking about how injuries were a factor for the Raptors? Sure, nobody’s healthy at the end, but we’re talking about two of their three best players going down to injuries. That’s a factor. It just is.
I don’t care whether anyone remembers - I’m just talking about it because injuries clearly did factor in this series. None of that takes away Toronto’s championship or their accomplishments over the course of a season.
I mean, Kawhi could barely jump by game 6 and Lowry was playing through a wrist injury of some kind to his non-throwing arm, but nobody seems to give a shit about that.
I’m not the biggest basketball fan but was glued to the TV during the playoffs and was thrilled to see the Raptors win their first title.
The Warriors injuries were a factor and I hope the players recover quickly and well. There were lots of plays for both teams that could have been executed better and a few missed calls that might have made a difference. Like any sport or game.
Given that most of the Raptors stalwarts were far from being top lottery picks, it was remarkable that when the Raptors needed a boost it could have come from so many different players. And while Leonard is indisputably the heart of the team, I thought Van Vleet a major factor despite a very difficult defensive assignment - when Curry is playing well he is extremely impressive.
And when the Raptors made some unusual trades, I wondered what they were thinking. Clearly they had an unusual understanding of what they needed and where they wanted to be. Still, the Raptors got a bit lucky to make it out of the second round.
Either racist, a sore loser or both, IMHO.
Because Leonard and Lowry could still clearly play and they were clearly well enough to be effective contributors to the team. Durant and Thompson clearly could not. Michael Jordan might have been sick with the flu in 1997, but he still dropped 38 points on the Jazz. A respiratory illness, a hurt wrist, a sore leg all suck and ideally, we wouldn’t want our star players to have them, but they’re all better than injuries that won’t allow you to put weight on your leg.
Van Fleet’s 3s in the fourth quarter were absolutely critical; arguably saved the entire game and team.
Agreed - Van Fleet was absolutely clutch down the stretch.
In case anyone wants to know my thoughts (and I know you don’t :rolleyes::p), I think the Raptors would have won in 7 games if Klay Thompson had been healthy. The Warriors would have won game 6 but the Raps would have found a way to squeak out game 7 at home, possibly in an OT thriller. Another reason why Thompson’s injury sucked. I think the Raptors were as good as the 2016 Cavs, and they could have beaten the Warriors minus Durant.
However, if the Warriors had been at full strength, I think the W’s would have won in 6 or 7. The Raps would have won the first 2 of 3, just like they did. But Kerr and the Warriors would have figured it out and out-schemed the Raps in a tough, hard-fought 7 game series.
Nitpick: It’s VanVleet. One Word. Double V. Proud to say that he played for my alma mater, Wichita State. Twice conference player of the year in the Missouri Valley.
He was undrafted out of college and spent some time playing for the Raptors D-League team during his rookie season. But by the end of the next season, he was nominated for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.
And his defense on Curry should not be overlooked.
My bad- don’t know why I thought it was Van Fleet. :o However you spell it, he was total clutch at the end of the game.