The Toronto Raptors Defeat the Golden State Warriors to Win their First NBA Championship

Introduction

On Thursday, June 13th, 2019 the Toronto Raptors and the Golden State Warriors played game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals from Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Prior to the game the best of 7 series was at 3-2 in favor of the Raptors. It was a close and hard-fought game by both teams as it came down to the last possession or so to determine the winner.

Toronto ended up winning game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals with a final score of 114-110 resulting in the Raptors winning their first ever NBA championship. The game contained big time performances, a major injury, and a last possession shot to decide the affair. Let’s analyze the details of the amazing championship clinching game while touching on the Finals and playoffs overall.

Toronto Raptors Breakdown

• Toronto consisted of 4 players that scored at least 22 points in game 6. Kyle Lowry – 26, Pascal Siakam – 26, Kawhi Leonard – 22, Fred VanVleet – 22.
• Toronto had a minimum of 6 players to average 10 points or more per game over the 2019 NBA Finals. The last team to achieve that mark and win the Finals was the 1987 Lakers.
• In Game 6 the Raptors won 3 out of the 4 quarters. They completed the series with a record of 17-5-2 advantage over the Warriors in winning quarters of the games. The Raptors won 70.8% of the 24 quarters played over the 2019 NBA Finals.
• Toronto won three straight road games in the NBA Finals and all four road games at Oracle Arena over the entire 2018-2019 NBA season.
• The Raptors outscored the Warriors by 34 points over the course of the Finals. Their 4 wins consisted of a total of 40 points whereas the 2 games they lost were by a 6-point margin.
• Game 6 accounted for 18 lead changes as well as 9 ties. This was the most in both aspects throughout the series. Prior to game 6 there was a total of 35 lead changes and 12 ties over the first 5 games in the series which averaged out to 7 lead changes and 2.4 ties per game.
• The Finals MVP was presented to Kawhi Leonard. This is the second time in his career he was awarded this prestigious honor. He is the only player to ever win Finals MVP in both the Eastern and Western Conference. He clinched the series averaging 28.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 43.4% from the field, 35.7% from 3-point range, 90.6% from the free throw line, and he averaged 40.5 minutes per game too.
• Over the course of the 24 playoff games this season that Kawhi Leonard played in he averaged 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.7 blocks while shooting 49% from the field, 37.9% from the 3 point line, 88.4% from the free throw stripe, and he averaged 39.1 minutes per game.
• Leonard scored a total of 732 points during the 2019 NBA playoffs with the Raptors which is good for third place all time for a player in one playoff run. #1 Michael Jordan with 759 in 1992 and #2 LeBron James with 748 in 2018. Let’s be clear here though King James lost the Finals in 2018.
• Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam scored a combined total of 1187 points over the 2019 playoffs. That total ties Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls for the second most by two teammates in one postseason run in NBA history. The most was recorded by LeBron James and Dwayne Wade with 1222 points in 2012.
• Kyle Lowry started game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals on fire by scoring the Raptors first 11 points. Lowry ended the 1st quarter with 15 points which was a higher total then he had in games 1, 2, or 4. Prior to game 6 he held an average of 14.2 points in the Finals.
• Kyle Lowry completed game 6 with a total of 26 points and 10 assists leading to 22 more points by other Toronto players. Between his points and his assists Lowry was responsible for 48 of the Raptor’s 114 points which equates to 42.1%.
• Pascal Siakam totaled 26 points in game 6 of the Finals. He shot 10-17 on field goals, 3-6 from 3-point range, and 3-4 on free throws. Toronto was 6-0 in the playoffs anytime that Pascal Siakam scored 25 points or more including 2-0 in the Finals.

Golden State Warriors Breakdown

• Klay Thompson ended up scoring the game 6 high of 30 points before having to leave the game toward the end of the 3rd period due to a severe knee injury. He shot 8-12 in field goals, 4-6 from 3-point range, and 10-10 from the free throw line.
• Draymond Green had 6 triple doubles throughout the 2019 NBA playoffs. He has his second of the Finals in game 6 while finishing the game with 11 points, 19 rebounds, and 13 assists which was a huge part of the Warriors efforts to prolong the series to a game 7, but Toronto cancelled those plans. Draymond is the only player in NBA history to hit those numbers or better in a postseason game.
• Stephen Curry ended the game with 21 pedestrian points. He had a chance to hit a game winning shot but missed the 3-point attempt in the final seconds of game 6. His 21 point game was the lowest scoring effort for him during these 2019 NBA Finals.

Reactions from Players and Coaches

"You just got to go take the guys you got and go play and manage it the best you can."

"It was a heck of a 12 months," says Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. "I just try to take things as they come. Didn't look too far ahead. Obviously when we made some additions to the team, we thought we could be good, but we had no idea what the health status was and all those things.

"They're a fantastic basketball team," Warriors head coach, Steve Kerr explained. "Great defensively, share the ball, play a beautiful style, a lot of great two-way players and a lot of veteran players who have been in this league contributing for a long time, so I'm very happy for them.

"Winning a championship is the ultimate in this league, and they have got a lot of guys who have earned this. ... They are a worthy champion."

"I wanted to be aggressive," says Kyle Lowry. "I look back at every game we've played and that we've won I've shot double-figure times. And I was more aggressive. The games, I think besides Game 1, but other games, all the other games we won, I was more aggressive offensively, makes or misses. But people thought that we were kind of going to be like, 'Man, we gave away Game 5.' But the group of guys that we have, we have been able to stay level-headed the whole time and understanding that we had a team that was going to come out here and play extremely hard, fans were going to be loud, and they were going to fight to the death.

"That's the one thing about that group, they fought to the death. And they got some great guys down there, great coaches, and we tip our hats to those guys because they, they're the definition of champions."

"The shot was one I take 10 out of 10 times," says Stephen Curry. "And we ran a play that was kind of, we got a decent look off of kind of a bobbled catch, and I could see the rim, so I shot it. I'll live with that. We always talk about that, myself and Klay, in terms of shots that we take, you live with it.

"I would shoot that shot every day of the week."

Sources:

“Raptors top Warriors for 1st title in team history”, Tim Bontemps, espn.com, June 14, 2019.

“Inside The Box Score: 2019 NBA Finals, Game 6”, stats.nba.com, June 14, 2019.

Written by: David Green