The Toronto Raptors, a team whose magical playoff run sparked civic pride and raucous enthusiasm across Canada, sent fans into fits of unbridled joy on Thursday as they beat the reigning champ Golden State Warriors in a see-saw thriller to win the NBA championship.
Thousands of spectators who jammed Jurassic Park, the fan zone outside the team’s empty downtown arena, to watch Game 6 of the finals on big screens _ some after waiting hours in pouring rain _ erupted in a roar as the final buzzer sounded.
“This is the best day of my life!” said John Cooke, 35, of Toronto, as the Raptors won 114-110.
Fans gathered both indoors and at dozens of outdoor venues across the country to cheer on a team from a city many love to hate, their enthusiasm measured by unusually jammed bars.
According to latest figures from payments firm Moneris, spending in bars nationally jumped 63 per on Monday from the same day a year ago, when the Raptors lost a Game 5 nail-biter by a single point. The biggest increase was in Edmonton, which saw spending jump a whopping 279 per cent. Spending in Toronto area bars almost doubled.
“It’s difficult to put into words what this means to me, but my love for my son _ and the Raptors _ is off the charts,” said John Drzazga, 41, of Grimsby, Ont., whose 10-year-old son Dustin spent the first part of the game roaming the zone in an inflatable dinosaur suit with a two-metre tail.
Cities across Ontario held packed viewing events, as did many other places from coast to coast, such as Halifax, which threw a massive outdoor block party.
Montreal shut down two city blocks to allow the improbable: people cheering a team from Toronto. Thousands braved the rain, forming a red tide, with organizers handing out “We the North” T-shirts.
One man was booed when he showed up wearing a blue Warriors T-shirt but he ripped it off to reveal a Raptors jersey. The Warriors shirt was set on fire, burning until police moved in to extinguish it.
Fans in Regina, as they did on Monday, watched on the massive screen at the Roughriders’ home stadium, while those in Edmonton headed to the Edmonton Expo Centre.
Even in Rickford, Ill., hometown to Raptors star Fred VanVleet, fans began their party at 6 p.m. at the newly created Jurassic Park RKFD to take in their local hero.
“Fred is an amazing basketball player and a genuinely good person both on and off the court,” Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara said. “We’re excited to support him as he works to bring home an NBA championship.”
In Oakland, Calif., where the Warriors hosted the Raptors, cheers erupted in Oracle Stadium as Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLauchlan performed O Canada and Pat Monahan, of pop-rock act Train, sang The Star Spangled Banner before the game got underway.
The championship win by the Raptors marked the first for a Canadian team in one of the big four professional sports since the Toronto Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series and the first NBA team outside the U.S. to go all the way.
“I remember coming here as an immigrant from Sri Lanka in 1989 and we watched Joe Carter hit that home run for the Jays,” said Subi Mahan, 37, of Pickering, Ont., who was with his two boys, Kiyan, 6, and Kishan, 9. “(So) to be here and share this with my boys is amazing. This is what love is.”
Outside Christchurch, New Zealand, a Canadian flag hung on a suburban fence emblazoned, “Let’s Go Raptors” and “We the North.”
Love of the Raptors, with their best performance in their 24 seasons, prompted Toronto Mayor John Tory to don his now-signature black-and-gold blazer to visit the gathering crowd Thursday.
“It is beyond comprehension that people could be down here, huddled under these makeshift tents, for hours on end, more than a day, overnight,” Tory said. “It’s cold, it’s rainy, it’s been such a terrible spring, but they’ve been here week after week, day after day, and they’re the greatest fans in sports.”
OAKLAND, Calif. _ The Toronto Raptors are bringing the Larry O’Brien Trophy as NBA champions home to Canada, a brilliant basketball story 24 years in the making.
Kyle Lowry had 26 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to lift the Raptors to a thrilling 114-110 victory over the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors on Thursday in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
Raptors in six. Or 6ix. A storybook ending.
“Basketball has come full circle in Canada, invented by a Canadian, the first NBA game was in Toronto and now an NBA championship,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said before presenting the trophy to the Raptors.
Pascal Siakam added 26 points, while Fred VanVleet had 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter. Kawhi Leonard finished with 22, and Serge Ibaka chipped in with 15.
Leonard was named Finals MVP.
Klay Thompson had 30 points for the Warriors, who had won three of the past four NBA championships. Andre Iguodala added 22, while Stephen Curry finished with 21.
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. 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.
Both Lowry and Leonard ran into foul trouble in the third quarter, picking up their fourth fouls. 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. Golden State led 88-86 with one quarter to play.
VanVleet had three big three-pointers in the second half: his first tied the game, his second gave Toronto a one-point lead with 7:08 to play, and his third put Toronto up 104-101 with 3:44 to play. VanVleet, looking battered with a bandage under the eye he cut a couple of games earlier, clenched his fists and let out a jubilant yell after the final one.
A Lowry basket made it a six-point Raptors lead with 2:14 to play. But a three-pointer by Draymond Green sparked a Warriors run capped by a DeMarcus Cousins layup that slashed Toronto’s lead to a point with 38 seconds left.
On Toronto’s second-last possession, Leonard was swarmed by Warriors as he finally got a pass off to Danny Green. But Siakam fumbled Green’s pass and it went out of bounds, giving the ball back to Golden State with 9.6 seconds to play. Curry’s three-pointer bounced off the rim, then the Raptors regained possession with 0.9 seconds left after a mad scramble.
Leonard scored on a technical awarded because the Warriors called a timeout when they didn’t have one to take. He connected for two more to clinch Toronto the victory.
After 82 regular-season games, and 24 post-season battles, all leading to this moment, finally the Raptors could celebrate.
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. Leonard has been their emotional gauge, his teammates assuming his mantra of living in the moment. Never too high, never too low.
“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.
The Raptors’ post-season run had seen Toronto trail Orlando 1-0, Philadelphia 2-1, and Milwaukee 2-0. But the level-headed Raptors never allowed doubt to creep in.
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. 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 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’ 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. He was on crutches soon after.
The Raptors had already won all three previous games _ each by double digits _ at Oracle this season, including two wins last week in a storied building that Raptors fans have practically turned into their own Jurassic Park _ O-Town version.
The Raptors’ historic run to the Finals gave the NBA something new, a fan base that extended beyond the boundaries of just one city, but stretched across an entire country. There’s been a groundswell of support from the Maritimes to Vancouver Island.
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. 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.
The pockets of Raptors fans in Oracle Arena could be heard singing along with Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan to “O Canada.” Train’s lead singer Pat Monahan performed the U.S. anthem.
Win or lose, it was bound to be an emotional night for the Warriors, who say goodbye to Oracle Arena, their home since 1967 and a storied building that has seen plenty of glorious victories, before moving across the bay to sparking new Chase Center in San Francisco next season.
“This is sort of a once in a career moment where you play in a building for the very last time,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “Win or lose, we’ll be able to share some emotion and say our goodbyes. But it is a strange, unique night.”
The capacity crowd of 19,596 that included baseball’s Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, retired L.A. Lakers star Metta World Peace, and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson marked the 343rd consecutive _ and final _ Warriors sellout at Oracle.
Lowry scored the Raptors’ first 11 points to propel the Raptors to a quick nine-point lead. An 18-10 run gave the Warriors a brief lead late in the first quarter, and the Raptors led 33-32 to start the second.
Golden State led by two points several times in the second quarter, but the Raptors responded to every Warriors push, and ended the half with a 7-3 run to take a 60-57 advantage into the halftime break.
OAKLAND, Calif. _ The Toronto Raptors won their first-ever National Basketball Association championship on Thursday night.
Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam scored 26 points apiece to lead Toronto past the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
It’s the first time in NBA history that a team based outside of the United States has won the league’s title.
Toronto had not appeared in an NBA Finals before this season. The Raptors entered the NBA in 1995.
The title also ends a 26-year drought since a Canadian team has won one of the big four North American professional sports championships. The last team to do it was the Toronto Blue Jays, who won the 1993 World Series.
Since then, Canadian teams have been shut out of championships in the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball and the NBA. There is no National Football League franchise in Canada.
Thursday’s victory was the culmination of a series of moves by Raptors president Masai Ujiri to create a championship-calibre team designed to win it all this season.
Ujiri’s first _ and biggest _ trade was to send beloved superstar DeMar DeRozan, young forward Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first round draft pick to the San Antonio Spurs for superstar Kawhi Leonard and defensively minded sharpshooter Danny Green.
Acquiring Leonard came with a timeline, as the 2014 NBA Finals MVP is scheduled to become a free agent this summer. Leonard reportedly made it clear to Spurs management that he intended to sign with one of the two teams in his hometown of Los Angeles as soon as he became a free agent.
Ujiri made additional moves ahead of February’s trade deadline, most notably getting centre Marc Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies for centre Jonas Valanciunas, forward C.J. Miles, guard Delon Wright and a 2024 second-round draft pick.
Gasol’s impact on the Raptors was felt throughout the rest of the season and into the playoffs as he stiffened Toronto’s defence and added another threat from three-point range.
OAKLAND, Calif. _ The Latest from Thursday night’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals (all times local):
8:50 p.m.
The Toronto Raptors are NBA champions for the first time.
The Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. The Raptors won the series 4-2, denying the Warriors what would have been a third straight championship.
Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam had 26 points apiece for the Raptors, Fred VanVleet and Kawhi Leonard each had 22 for Toronto.
Klay Thompson scored 30 for Golden State but left with a knee injury. Andre Iguodala scored 22 points and Stephen Curry had 21 for the Warriors. Curry missed a 3-pointer with about 5 seconds left, the Raptors tacked on a free throw off a technical in the last second when the Warriors called a time-out they didn’t have, and the last game at Oracle Arena was the last game of Golden State’s reign.
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8:15 p.m.
The Warriors say Klay Thompson will not return to Game 6 because of his left knee injury.
There was no word on severity of the injury. The Warriors were already without Kevin Durant, out with a ruptured Achilles that left the team fielding some criticism about the risk he was taking by returning to the series while already dealing with a lower-leg injury.
Thompson got hurt when fouled on a drive in the third quarter. He left with 30 points.
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8:05 p.m.
What a wild third quarter in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
Klay Thompson has 30 points but has left the floor to get his left knee checked out, Andre Iguodala has 20 and the Golden State Warriors lead the Toronto Raptors 88-86 going into the fourth quarter.
Thompson was hurt late in the third, left the floor, then re-emerged _to wild cheering _ to make his free throws after taking a foul and hard fall on a drive.
Kyle Lowry has 24 points, Pascal Siakam has 21 and Kawhi Leonard has 19 for Toronto. Leonard nearly tied it on a tip-in at the third-quarter buzzer but the ball didn’t get off his hand in time.
Thompson ended the quarter in the locker room. There is no word yet on if he’ll return.
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8 p.m.
Klay Thompson got hurt in a scary fall, left the floor _ and came back to make free throws.
Thompson took a very awkward landing and his knee bent abnormally when he was fouled on a drive. He left the floor during a time-out, but if he didn’t shoot the free throws he would have been ineligible to come back.
So he emerged from the tunnel, took his free throws and made both. He then left the game a few seconds later, jogging to the locker room.
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7:15 p.m.
Kyle Lowry has 21 points and Toronto leads Golden State 60-57 after a back-and-forth first half of Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
Lowry tied a playoff career-high for a first half. He’s 7 for 9 from the floor.
Pascal Siakam has 13 points and Serge Ibaka scored 10 for the Raptors. Kawhi Leonard has nine points and three fouls.
Klay Thompson leads the Warriors with 18 points. Andre Iguodala has 11 and Stephen Curry was held to nine in the first half for Golden State.
There has been 14 lead changes and four ties so far, with the Raptors trying to clinch the title.
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7:05 p.m.
No team has ever scored more points in an NBA season than the 2018-19 Golden State Warriors.
Andre Iguodala’s score in the second quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals gave Golden State 46 points for the evening _ and put the Warriors up to 12,097 for the season, including playoffs.
The most points ever scored in a season had been 12,096, by the 1984-85 Los Angeles Lakers in 101 games. These Warriors, who are playing their 104th game of the season, entered Thursday with 12,051.
Golden State scored 12,006 points in the 2015-16 season, in 106 games. That’s the third-most in a season.
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6:40 p.m.
Kyle Lowry has 15 points and Toronto leads Golden State 33-32 after the first quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
The Raptors made seven 3-pointers in the quarter, after going 8 for 32 from deep in Game 5. Lowry was 4 for 4 from beyond the arc.
He scored Toronto’s first 11 points, and needed barely over 2 minutes to get there. He’s also the first player in these playoffs to make four 3-pointers in the opening quarter of a game.
Klay Thompson made his first four shots and has 10 for Golden State. Toronto led by as many as nine points, and Stephen Curry nearly made an 85-footer to end the quarter.
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6:10 p.m.
The final game at Oracle Arena has started.
Still unclear: If it’ll also be the final game of this NBA season.
Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors has tipped off. The Raptors lead the series 3-2 and have a chance to clinch their first championship.
The two-time defending champion Warriors are merely trying to send it back to Toronto for a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday night.
This game is the 2,070th game at Oracle for the Warriors. They’ll move from Oakland to the Chase Center in San Francisco next season.
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5:45 p.m.
The Warriors are going with yet another new starting lineup.
Golden State is trying its 11th different starting five of this post-season, adding Kevon Looney at centre to the first-string unit for Game 6 of the NBA Finals. The 11 lineups extends Golden State’s NBA record for a single playoffs, at least since such things started being tracked nearly 50 years ago.
Looney will join Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry in Golden State’s first five.
Toronto’s starters are unchanged: Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Marc Gasol, Pascal Siakam and Kawhi Leonard.
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4:35 p.m.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr says ailing Warriors big man Kevon Looney will try to play in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
The 6-foot-9 Looney re-aggravated a cartilage fracture in his right collarbone area during Game 5.
Kerr says, “Kevon just warmed up on the court with Chris DeMarco. He’s doing decently I think he’ll give it a go. We’ll see how he holds up.”
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4:15 p.m.
The Warriors are honouring injured star Kevin Durant and paying tribute to Oracle Arena with yellow rally towels given to fans for Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
One line on the towel reads FOR OAK and the next line says LAND (FOR OAKLAND) with the “K” and “D” lined up in white for Durant’s initials and nickname, “KD.”
In the 2,070th game at Oracle, the Warriors were set to sell out their 343rd consecutive game and say farewell at last to the place they called home for 47 years. Golden State will move its games, practices and day-to-day operations to new Chase Center in San Francisco beginning next season.
Oracle held its first game on Nov. 29, 1966 against Chicago.
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11 a.m.
The Toronto Raptors have a second chance at claiming their first NBA championship.
Game 6 of the NBA Finals will be played Thursday night, the Raptors entering with a 3-2 series lead over the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors.
Golden State is 0-3 at home against Toronto this season, losing all three games by double digits. And this will be the final time that the Warriors play a home game at Oracle Arena, with the team moving to the Chase Center in San Francisco next season.
Golden State fought off elimination with a 106-105 win in Game 5 at Toronto on Monday night.