Yeah injuries suck, its actually kinda effected 4 of the last 5 years. 2015 - Love and Irving against Golden State 2017 - Kawhi against Golden State 2018 - CP3 against Golden State 2019 - Thompson and Durant against Toronto Somewhere Lebron James is rejoicing, the dark cloud that cost him titles is gone finally. If the Lakers can add Anthony Davis, I think they would be the favorite to go to the finals. At least finally we will see a new team come out of the West.
Best thing about the Raptors winning is this was supposed to be the Maple Leafs year and now Toronto is a basketball city. Leonard >Tavares.
Before the game ended after the foul on the in bounds I couldn't understand what was taking so long. There was a lot of contact between both Leonard and Green. The Raptors were over the limit. I'm thinking could they call a foul on Leonard against Green and send Green to the line? Got to give GS a lot of credit. As hobbled as they were they made the Raptors earn the title. Winning an NBA title is an absolute war. Getting to the final round 5 years in a row is amazing. The additional wear and tear on GS over the years finally showed up. GS defense is highly under-rated. I thought they were arguably the better defensive team in this series.
I felt horrible for Klay, he tore his ACL No way, the Raptors have been the far better team on defense (schematically and player personnel). Curry alone was horrible guarding Lowry and VanVleet. Never closed out on the shooters.
GS hit 20 3 point shots in game 5 and Curry had a wide open look at the end of last nights game. The amount of back door layups that GS had was amazing. GS committed to stoping Leonard who in reality was well below average throughout this series. There were times when Leonard was a turnover machine. Curry was the best player in this series. What's clear is GS after 5 runs through the playoffs lost through attrition. A fresh GS team healthy would have run Toronto out of the building.
Kawhi played fine, but they didn't need him to score 30+ to win because the role players stepped up. I do agree, with Durant and Klay, the Warriors win the series, but hey injuries are part of the game, and that's how the Warriors became a Dynasty to begin with. Heck, if Klay didn't get hurt, they would've won last night. Warriors couldn't close out to the shooters and they also couldn't rebound the ball. Turned the ball over close to 20 times.
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri accused of punching a cop in Oakland. Cell video shows it was the cop beating him up https://newsone.com/3854281/raptors-gm-police-fight-video/
I'm not sure you would call it punching or beating anyone up, but it sure looks like a case of racial profiling (was everyone else who rushed the court asked for their credentials? Have GMs in the past been stopped from rushing the court when their team wins a title?). No doubt this will all be dropped quickly. I'll bet the NBA isn't sorry that they're moving across the Bay.
If accurate, that would mean bookies believe the Lakers are getting Anthony Davis and that this is somehow a better team than Houston. As presently constituted I think the Rockets should be favored to come out of the West and Toronto if Kawhi stays. Too much up in the air right now
Yeah I think that's the best chance as well, but as you said, too much is up in the air. It's going to be the craziest off season ever.
The Warriors out-rebounded Toronto last night. They had 4 more TO's 16 to 12. They had a bad game from the foul line. They were plus 5 with Thompson on the floor. Toronto was minus 2 with Leonard on the floor. Curry has an open 3 with the game winding down to tie it and missed. I think you really underestimate how good GS defense was in this series. They were just overmatched in horsepower from attrition. I thought Leonard on O was a liability for long stretches in a couple of games against the Warriors. He could definitely improve his game by working on his play without the ball. One of the things that makes the Warriors so tough is both Thompson and Curry don't need the ball to break down a defense. When Thompson went out it was over. Thompson is a very good defender. Tough what happened to him. When I saw it it looked like a none contact injury. He just came down with a lot of weight awkwardly on his knee joint. I really don't think the foul played a role. It's probably a 1 year rehab. The guys as tough as nails.