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Warriors Quest for 3-Peat Denied

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It wasn’t the sendoff Dub Nation had in mind, but the Warriors sure went down with a fight. In the final Warriors game ever at Oracle Arena, the Dubs’ suffered a season-ending 114-110 loss to the Raptors on Thursday in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. The first team to make five consecutive NBA Finals appearances since the Boston Celtics (1959-66), the Warriors battled but ultimately lost the series in six games to give the Raptors their first championship in franchise history.

TEAM LEADERS

GSW
Points Rebounds Assists
Thompson – 30 Green – 19 Green – 13
Iguodala – 22 Thompson / Cousins – 5 Curry – 7
Curry – 21 3 Tied – 3 Looney – 4
TOR
Points Rebounds Assists
Siakam / Lowry – 26 Siakam – 10 Lowry – 10
Leonard / VanVleet – 22 Gasol – 9 Gasol – 4
Ibaka – 15 Lowry – 7 3 Tied – 3

Down by one with 9.6 seconds left in the game, the Warriors had a shot to go ahead, but Stephen Curry’s 3-point attempt was off the mark, and by the time the Dubs secured the rebound, there was only 0.9 seconds left. The Dubs called a timeout that they didn’t have and were assessed a technical foul. Three Kawhi Leonard free throws, an official review and a Curry full-court heave later, the final horn sounded and the Warriors’ quest for a 3-peat was officially denied.

The Warriors showed tremendous fight in the game, and nobody embodied that more than Klay Thompson. Known as “Game 6 Klay” for huge Game 6 performances in his prior postseason career, Thompson put on a performance that lived up to the nickname. Thompson scored 30 points on 8-for-12 shooting, hitting four of his six three-point attempts. But his evening was cut short in the third quarter when he went up for a dunk on a fast break, getting fouled on the play and injuring his left knee on the fall. The Dubs called a timeout and Thompson was helped by teammates off the floor, but he came back in to shoot the free throws. With chants of “M-V-P” reverberating through the crowd, Thompson sunk both free throws to give the Dubs a five-point lead with 2:22 left in the period.

Already without Kevin Durant, who came back from a month-long absence (strained calf) in Game 5, only to rupture his left Achilles, Thompson’s injury took out another Warriors All-Star, but the squad still battled.

Andre Iguodala had his highest scoring game of the postseason, scoring 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting while knocking down a trio of 3-pointers. DeMarcus Cousins labored through the torn quad muscle he suffered back in the first round and had 12 points in 19 minutes, and Shaun Livingston came through with two of his three buckets in the fourth quarter, the last being a fastbreak dunk that put the Dubs up by three with 6:36 left in the game.

But the Raptors re-took the lead for good with a 12-3 run over a 3-minute stretch that put the Dubs down by six with two minutes to go. Draymond Green answered with a 3-pointer to give him a triple-double (11 points, 19 rebounds, 13 assists), and a pair of Curry free throws cut the Dubs’ deficit down to one in the final 20 seconds. After a Toronto turnover, the Warriors regained possession but couldn’t convert.

The Raptors’ defense gave Curry very little room to work with, holding him to 21 points. And offensively, Toronto had a balanced scoring effort with four players scoring north of 20 points. Kyle Lowry had 15 of his 26 points in the first quarter, sharing the team-high with Pascal Siakam, who was 10-for-17 from the floor. Fred VanVleet knocked down five 3-pointers to finish with 22 points, a total matched by Leonard, the NBA Finals MVP.

By the time the game ended, the Dubs were down a pair of All-Stars and several other Warriors were playing through pain. But the 343rd consecutive sellout crowd was on its feet cheering on their Dubs throughout the game, and through the final buzzer. The 2,070th Warriors game at Oracle Arena went down to the wire, ending in heartbreak but also showing the toughness and grit of a team that has called its Oracle Arena home in East Oakland home for 47 seasons.

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More notes from the game:

  • Tonight marked the second time this postseason Golden State has led by double-digits (11) and gone on to lose (led by 31 points in Game 2 of the First Round vs. the Clippers).
  • Golden State held Toronto to a postseason opponent low-tying 17 first quarter points (held Houston to 17 first quarter points in Game 5 on May 8).
  • The Warriors failed to score 100-or-more points for the first time this postseason (92), snapping their franchise-record playoff streak of scoring 100-plus points (25-straight games)… Golden State fell to 0-9 this regular and postseason combined when failing to score 100-plus points.
  • The Warriors lost consecutive games for the second time this postseason (Games 3 & 4 vs. Houston in the Western Conference Semifinals).
  • Golden State shot a postseason-low 66.7 percent from the free throw line (14-of-21 FT)… The team’s previous low was 69.6 percent in Game 4 at Houston on May 6.
  • With a capacity crowd of 19,596 Golden State recorded its 342 consecutive sellout (regular season and playoffs), the longest streak in franchise history.
  • Klay Thompson scored a team-high 28 points (11-of-18 FG, 6-of-10 3FG) after missing Game 3 due to a left hamstring strain, the first missed postseason game of his career (appeared in 120-straight playoff games).
  • Stephen Curry tallied 27 points, four rebounds and six assists… He extended his NBA-record streak to 110 consecutive postseason games with a made three.
  • Shaun Livingston became the fifth player in franchise history to appear in 100 postseason games as a Warrior… He scored six points with three rebounds in nine minutes.
  • Draymond Green posted his 12th double-double of the postseason with 10 points and a game-high 12 assists, matching Nikola Jokic for the most double-doubles by a single player these playoffs… He added a team-high nine rebounds, with one steal and two blocks.
  • Kevon Looney scored 10 points (5-of-8 FG), his sixth game this postseason scoring 10-or-more points… Looney returned to action after missing Game 3 with a right 1st costal cartilage non-displaced fracture.
  • Kevin Durant missed his ninth consecutive game due to a right calf strain.

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