There were versions of Jurassic Park viewing parties across Canada, including Montreal, which was lovingly dubbed "Jurassic Peel," and at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, normally home to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Thousands of fans gathered at Jurassic Park outside Scotiabank Arena - like they’ve done all post-season long - and cheered on the Raptors under dark skies and drizzling rain, ponchos pulled up over dripping hair. He was on crutches soon after and was reported to have a torn ACL.
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The Warriors’ sharp-shooter was on the ground for several minutes, returned to the game briefly to sink two free throws - Danny Green was whistled for a foul on the play - before heading to the Warriors’ locker-room. The already short-handed Warriors lost Thompson in the third quarter Thursday after his left leg buckled underneath him when he came down from a dunk. The Warriors vowed to win for Durant, and when highlights of the 10-time all-star were played on the Jumbotron, the arena erupted in chants of "K-D!" The Raptors had missed an opportunity to close out the Finals at home on Monday, losing to the Warriors 106-105 on a night marred by Kevin Durant’s torn Achilles tendon. But the level-headed Raptors never allowed doubt to creep in. The Raptors’ post-season run had seen Toronto trail Orlando 1-0, Philadelphia 2-1, and Milwaukee 2-0. "This is a strong-minded tough-ass group of guys," said Raptors coach Nick Nurse, almost a year to the day he was promoted to head coach after the firing of Dwane Casey. Leonard has been their emotional gauge, his teammates assuming his mantra of living in the moment.
The Raptors had been methodically working since president Masai Ujiri, dreaming of an NBA title, acquired Leonard last summer, and then added Marc Gasol at February’s trade deadline. Golden State led 88-86 with one quarter to play.Īfter 82 regular-season games, and 24 post-season battles, all leading to this moment, finally the Raptors could celebrate. A three-pointer by Andre Iguodala with a minute left in the third put the Warriors up by five - their biggest lead to that point - and ignited the rowdy crowd. Three days after connecting on just eight three-pointers in Game 5, the Raptors had nine from deep by the end of the first half Thursday.īoth Lowry and Leonard ran into foul trouble in the third quarter, picking up their fourth fouls.
In what will go down as one of the most exciting games in recent Finals history, Lowry, playing with the sprained left thumb he suffered in Game 7 of the conference semis 12 games earlier, got the Raptors going, staking his team to an early nine-point lead in a thoroughly entertaining first half of breakneck basketball. Andre Iguodala added 22, while Curry finished with 21.
Klay Thompson had 30 points for the Warriors, who had won three of the past four NBA championships.
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It was the first championship in one of the big four North American sports leagues (NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL) for a Canadian team since the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993. I know your best friend left, I know you’re mad, but let’s make this thing work out. or the day that I got traded and told him … ‘Let’s go out and do something special. And I just came in with the right mindset, let’s go out and win ball games. "And the guys here have been making runs in the playoffs before I came, so I know they were a talented team. I’m still playing basketball no matter what jersey I have on. "But obviously like I said, when I was there on my opening-day meeting that I was focused on the now, and I wanted to make history here and that’s all I did. "We all know where my (preferred) destinations were (last summer)," Leonard said. New Balance, which has put out several cheeky ads featuring the soft-spoken Leonard, delivered another one after the game, saying "Rings speak louder than words." Leonard wore goggles in the dressing room and danced in the locker-room as the champagne started to flow. Hundreds of Canadian fans at Oracle sang "Oh Canada" as the Raptors took pictures with the trophy. "I’m going to enjoy this with my teammates and coaches and I’ll think about that later," Leonard said.
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