The NBA could not have asked for better material for its marketing efforts than Game 6 of last night's Championship Finals. What a grand game it was. It showed that to dethrone a veteran, defending champion, you have to give it everything you have, you have to take the crown. Even depleted with injuries, the Golden State Warriors ceded no ground to the Toronto Raptors. If you are old enough, conjure up in your memory photographs of an Ali-Frazier fight, in black-and-white, with smoke rising to the rafters of Madison Square Garden. Steph hits a three! Fred Van Vleet hits one! Draymond grabs another rebound! Kyle Lowry made the court his own person playground at the games outset! Kawhi, well, he was just being his awesome Kawhi self! And Andre Iguodala, what can you say about his effort other than it increases and improves as the games get tougher!
Everyone who participated last night was a warrior. In the end, the Raptors just had too much for the defending champions, but in falling so valiantly, demonstrated to all that despite the abundant talent in their starting lineup, they are a dynasty, champions so worthy of the name, valiant, gritty, determined, skilled. It was just that Toronto, a team that the pundits thought might not make it to the NBA Finals, was too versatile, too resilient, too flexible, too tough. But not by a whole lot.
Sadly, two great Warriors and top NBA players suffered awful injuries -- Kevin Durant in the beginning of Game 5 and then Klay Thompson in Game 6. Both look to be out for all of next season. Their injuries will make an already compelling off-season (and no one sets up drama for the off-season the way the NBA does) even more compelling, what with so many teams having sufficient cap space to sign a free agent to a max deal. Will Durant opt out? Where will Klay go? Does the interest on the other free agents increase because of these injuries? What will the Warriors do? Will Kawhi stay in Toronto? Will Kyrie go to Brooklyn and not Manhattan? Will the Raptors' president stay in Toronto or take the purportedly huge deal the Wizards will offer him? Where will T.J. McConnell go? Okay, that last question might interest diehard 76ers' fans only, as they appreciated the hard work of the back-up PG during his seasons in the City of Brotherly Love.
It was a great night, a happy night, a sad night, a poignant night, a night to celebrate the best of basketball. Both teams performed nobly, valiantly. The refs also did a great job (save perhaps a late blocking call on Kyle Lowry that really was a charge on Boogie Cousins), and the three guys in the booth made salient comments without being obnoxious or tripping on one another.
What a great game! Cannot wait for next season!
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