OAKLAND – The Toronto Raptors are NBA champions with an 114-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the Finals on Thursday.
It’s surprising that the Raptors were one or two balls opposed to Philadelphia, a property or two for wasting Game 7 on that same series, and a property or two of a 3-0 loss to Milwaukee.
Most name groups have crucial moments like this, however, this Raptors race was special, especially given their recent history of disappointment in the playoffs. There were opportunities for the “same moments as the old Raptors. But instead of bending, this team resisted the pressure. And while there have been many heroic offensives by Kawhi Leonard and others, the Raptors have more often controlled a proper team defense.
“If your team lays the groundwork for defense,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said along the way, “you get in a position to win the most nights. “
Here’s a look at six of the primary victories along which propelled the Raptors into their first NBA championship.
Video ratings NBA. com/Stats: Raptors 111, Magic 82
It is not typical for a 4-1 series between the No. 2 and 7 have a pivotal moment, but the Raptors lost Game 1, treating it as a regular-season game in the eyes of coach Nick Nurse.
“The Orlando Magic needed a punch to realize it was better to start betting a lot harder,” Nurse later said. “I think we went out at the time of the game and saw a completely different basketball team. “
The first game was a bit ugly on both sides of the field, but the Raptors controlled it to make the game even more complicated for the Magic offensive. Statistically, it is the best defensive game of the Raptors season (82 numbers allowed in 94 possessions).
Key stats: Live sales: Magic 10, Raptors 2
Key sequence: first quarter, 12:00 – 7:43. Although the first game was low, magic pulled him out by scoring 20 points in his last 11 possessions, turning a six-point deficit into a three-point victory. In Game 2, Orlando ran out of goals in his first nine possessions, returning the ball 4 times (with Marc Gasol eliminating DJAugustine and Jonathan Isaac the first two times magic had the ball) and firing 0 of 6, the Raptors have never overcome anything less than 34 problems and won four consecutive games after that.
“I think we learned the lesson of that first game opposed to Orlando,” Nurse said. “We’ve had about six and games. I think six in a row, then I take a step back in the third game in Philadelphia.
In fact, from the first-time game to the convention semi-finals moment game, the Raptors played six consecutive games in which they limited their opponent to less than one point consistent with possession.
But at the time of the Philadelphia series game, his worst offensive game of the playoffs. With the Sixers converting defensive assignments (putting Ben Simmons on Leonard and Joel Embiid on Pascal Siakam), the Raptors scored just 38 points in the first half. Leonard finished 35 of thirteen of 24 on the ground, yet his teammates shot a combined 20 of 66 (30 percent).
Then, in Game 3 in Philadelphia, the Raptors were waxed and, to add an insult, Siakam had a bruised calf when he tried to knock Embiid down in the early last quarter.
User ratings for NBA. com/Stats: Raptors 101, Sixers 96
The fourth game in Philadelphia arguably was the most vital game of the Raptors’ streak. After losing 21 in Game 3, they needed a away win to avoid a 3-1 deficit.
Key Statistics: Raptors beat Sixers 33-11 in 12:46 with Embiid on the ground.
Key sequence: Fourth quarter, from 9:00 to 15:00 h. The Sixers anticipated three after Jimmy Butler tired a triple with 9:18 remaining in the fourth, but the Raptors would keep them within one point in their next nine possessions.
“His defense,” Sixers coach Brett Brown “raised a new level. “
For the first time since the acquisition of Gasol, Nurse played its two centers, Gasol and Serge Ibaka, in combination for long minutes. In fact, they played in combination for almost everything a crucial fourth quarter, Ibaka getting a key blockade on Tobias Harris and Gasol hit one of the biggest shots of the season, a triple to tie the game at 7:08 for playing.
The Sixers were back with just over a minute to the end when Leonard received a gas screen with only 4 seconds to the end of the shot. Ambiid switched to Leonard, who dropped the three-point line and defended what was the Raptors’ biggest shot. the season to date.
“I looked at the shooting stopwatch and tried to create as much area as possible,” Leonard said. “I just took a picture and thought I was going in. “
But the Raptors would want some others of these, as the groups split games five and 6, with the house team winning the game comfortably.
Video ratings NBA. com/Stats: Raptors 92, Sixers 90
There is nothing but a Game 7 that comes down to the cable, and this one went all the way.
Key Statistics: Sixers have six second-chance points, after averaging 12. 5 in the first six games.
Key sequence: Fourth quarter, 3:15 – 1:10. With the score tied after a 5-0 race from Philadelphia, the Raptors discovered 3 of the defensive possessions (for any team) in the playoffs.
The first five players on a rope and worked hard . . . Gasol made it difficult to get in and then make canopy a handover of Embiid-JJRedick, Ibaka turning towards Embiid, Gasol assembling the Embiid drive with help, Leonard turning towards Ibaka’s boy and Siakam turned to Leonard’s boy in the lower corner. It’s Butler, who tried to return the ball to Embiid, but there was no time left to stop the shot.
With the score still tied in the Sixers’ next possession, they placed another three ball screens for Butler, but still couldn’t escape, and Gasol forced him to try and score three points at the firing stop.
After Leonard advanced the Raptors through two with some other jump shot over Embiid, the Raptors blocked the Sixers one last time. Sikam refused Harris access to the position, Lowry rejected a move to Redick, then Siakam rejected Harris’ other move. However, the ball passed to Harris, however, the striker was 30 feet from the basket with less than five seconds to touch the firing stop. Siakam and Gasol caught him and when he tried to return the ball to Embiid, Lowry arrived. of his boy to borrow the ball and lead a break that allowed the Raptors to win four.
Three offensive possessions for a Philadelphia team that has scored 116. 2 points consistent with 100 possessions this season (regular season and playoffs combined), and the ball didn’t even reach the brink.
“There are sections where it is very difficult to finish a pass that opposes us,” Nurse said. “It wears out on a team after a while, when you’re in them and you deny it and everyone’s hooked and playing so well. ” difficult. “
However, the Sixers tied the game with 4. 2 seconds to play, and that, of course, led to one last shot through Kawhi Leonard over Joel Embiid . . .
It was the first Game 7, gained the dull noise in NBA history and took four rebounds to get in.
“You’re at that moment,” Leonard said of stressful situations, “you settle for that and appreciate what’s going to happen next. “
It is not yet clear whether the Raptors are the team in this series, but all that is that the team won 4 of the seven games.
Video ratings NBA. com/Stats: Raptors 118, Bucks 112 (2OT)
The Milwaukee Bucks were the league team in the regular season and a 10-1 playoff record in Game 2 of the convention final, a 22-point victory over the Raptors. By this point, 67 of the 72 groups that had taken a 2-0 lead in the convention final had won the series.
But the Raptors didn’t get discouraged. After the Raptors vanished into Game 2, Leonard asked a question: Where are you going from here, Kawhi?
“I’m going to Toronto, ” he said. “Game 3”
In Toronto, Nurse made a big adjustment by putting Leonard in Kia’s favorite MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the third game is not a transparent sign that the series had changed. He returned five numbers with just over a minute to play in regular time to send the game overtime. And Lowry had committed a foul with more than six minutes to play in the room.
Key statistics: Leonard played a career-high 52:08 despite a leg injury that would keep him hampered by the rest of the postseason with less than 3 minutes to play.
Key sequence: Second overtime, 2:40 – 0: 16. La Bucks’ only advantage since the start of the first quarter after their possession of the OT moment. And that advantage lasted only 21 moments before Gasol scored a big 3- Still, it was just a one-point game before the Raptors made a few more saves to save their season again.
The most important thing was Leonard’s remarkable defensive game. He deviated Khris Middleton’s pass on the pole and then snatched the ball from Malcolm Brogdon after Brogdon beat him. He changed the loan from scouse to a simple matte that put the Raptors up 3 with 1:52 by the end.
“As long as you can get a flight and an escape,” Nurse said afterward, “it’s a massive moose game. “
Two possessions later, Siakam rejected Brook Lopez in the hoop and after Leonard placed the Raptors in the four most sensitive, his defense opposed to tension forced Milwaukee into a backfield violation that sealed the victory.
The Raptors followed the fifth 11-point game in the middle of the third quarter and Game 6 through 15 with just over two minutes remaining in the third, but neither game was completely out of control and, in both cases, won large quarter-fourths: 33-24 in Game 5, 29-18 in Game 6 – to win their first East Conference title.
It’s hard to know what the most important victory was, the one on the road or the one that sent them to the final after giving the impression that we were going back to Milwaukee for Game 7.
Key Statistics: Leonard, who never had more than 8 assists in 570 games in his career before Game 5, had 16 assists overall in Games 5 and 6 This issue testifies Leonard’s reading of the Milwaukee Defense, but also of the rebirth of his Fred VanVleet, who hit 6 out of 42 in a series of nine games from the second game in the convention semifinals to the third game of the finals the convention, hit the biggest shot of the fifth game, a 3 from the far right in an initial kick. of Leonard, who gave the Raptors the lead with 2:19 by the end.
Key sequence: Game 6, third quarter, 2:10 – fourth quarter, 6:45 if it weren’t for Leonard’s buzzer-batsman opposed to Philadelphia, the 26-3 race that turned a 15-point deficit into eight points. leading in Game 6 would be the turning point in the Raptors’ race to the final.
The exclamation point was Leonard’s incredible left-handed dump in Antetokounmpo, a counterattack that began with a Lowry flight. There were still paintings to be made after that, but the Raptors had discovered another way to fight in a complicated situation.
Just winning in the East like a championship in Toronto. You can hear it in the crowd and you can see it in Lowry’s smile in the closing seconds of Game 6. But the Raptors weren’t done.
After the Warriors took credit for the box with a victory in Game 2, Nurse told his team that they should only get one of the next two games in Oakland.
“[Improperio],” Leonard’s response, through the nurse. “Let’s go through both of us. “
With Klay Thompson out, Game 3 was academic, but the fourth game, with Thompson scoring 28 points in an 11-in-18 shot, was much harder.
Key Statistics: The Warriors scored problems in 95 possessions, their worst offensive play in the playoffs.
Key sequence: Third quarter, 12:00 – 11:10 am The moment begins with the Warriors up to 4 with the ball. Sikam kicked Thompson, stood in front of him and forced him to give up the ball. After Andre Iguodala failed, a three, VanVleet propelled the ball in transition and discovered Leonard on the right wing for a three catch and shoot that exploded.
Seven seconds later, Draymond Green dropped an access pass from Stephen Curry, Leonard hit the ball, dribbling the floor and left three more on Green’s grill.
The tide changed with an 18-3 race in Toronto at the end of the third quarter, however Leonard’s two three-point problems were a transparent sign that the Raptors were not going to fall victim to one of the three-quarters that changed the game. Warriors.
“Kawhi Leonard went out and hit two important shots to start half,” VanVleet later said. “There’s no defense for that. There’s no formula for that. It’s two big shots he came out of the middle, two triples in a row, and that just let you know how we were going to do the technique in the third quarter and the rest of the half, that put us in a position.
Although the Raptors gained an edge in the area with their victory in Game 3, there is a big difference between a 2-2 series and a 3-1 series under the circumstances, arguably Game Four was the Raptors’ ultimate impressive victory in the playoffs. that put them at the break point of their first championship.
That name came six days later, back in Oakland, where the Warriors had lost three times in their last seven series. The fact that the Raptors won 3 games at Oracle Arena in nine days says a lot about their endurance.
“It’s a tough and tough guy organization,” Nurse said just before his team arrived and won the sixth game of the final.
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John Schuhmann is a senior analyst on NBA. com. You can send an email here, your files here and check it out on Twitter.
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