OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - The Toronto Raptors delivered Canada its first NBA title with a 114-110 victory over the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors on Thursday that set off a country-wide celebration.

With a nation hanging on their every shot, Canada’s only NBA team put the finishing touches to a remarkable 4-2 series upset that denied the Warriors a fourth championship in five years.

“I can’t really think right now, this is crazy. This is awesome man,” said Toronto guard Kyle Lowry. “Toronto! Canada! We brought it home baby! We brought it home!”

When the final buzzer sounded, jubilant Raptors fans flooded the streets of downtown Toronto for a night of celebration not seen in the city since Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays last won a World Series title in 1993.

Toronto forward Kawhi Leonard, who arrived in a blockbuster trade with the San Antonio Spurs last July after an injury limited his season to nine games, was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player after averaging 28.5 points during the series.

“Last summer I was going through a lot. I had a great support system, I just kept working hard, working hard and had my mind set on this goal right here,” said Leonard, who last season was limited to nine games due to a quadriceps injury.

“I came to a team, a new coach, and that mindset was the same as mine. This is what I play basketball for, this is what I work out for all summer, during the season and I’m happy that my hard work paid off.”

Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam each had 26 points for Toronto while sharp-shooting Warriors guard Klay Thompson, who left the game with an injury in the third quarter, had 30 points.

Despite playing against a more playoff-seasoned opponent, the Raptors proved unflappable throughout the series and whenever the Warriors looked set to seize momentum Toronto would use some smart passes and precise shooting to maintain control.

“I thought they really fought hard, they were tough-minded,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said of his team. “They didn’t seem like this was wearing on them at all. Two months of playoff basketball, they never seemed tired to me.”

The Warriors, who lost Kevin Durant to a ruptured Achilles in Game Five, were dealt another crushing blow late in the third quarter of a tight game when Thompson came down awkwardly after a shot attempt.

Thompson, who was fouled on the play, was in obvious pain and headed toward the locker room but suddenly reappeared to shoot his free throws, which if he did not shoot would have made him ineligible to come back later in the game.

But after making both free throws Thompson went to the Warriors locker room and was later seen walking on crutches.

“When Klay goes down and is out for the game, it’s just sort of a, you got to be kidding me, like this has to stop,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

“But it’s just the way it’s gone. I don’t know if it’s related to five straight seasons of playing a hundred plus games and just all the wear and tear, but it’s devastating.”

The loss sends the Warriors into an offseason of uncertainty given some of their top players, including Durant and Thompson, are eligible to become free agents.

The Raptors made a furious start to Game Six and nailed seven three pointers to build an early nine-point lead but the Warriors responded and cut the deficit to 33-32 by the end of a first quarter in which both teams flexed their offensive muscle.

The teams continued to throw everything they had at each other in a basketball version of a heavyweight prize fight that saw 14 lead changes during a wild first half in which Lowry had 21 points to put Toronto ahead 60-57 at the break.

Toronto kept up their torrid pace after the half but the Warriors, a team known for their third-quarter dominance, refused to be buried and were starting to take control with Thompson leading the charge until he went down suddenly.

When healthy the Warriors are a near-unstoppable group, one that has been a fixture in the NBA Finals for the last five years but injuries ultimately proved their undoing.

Despite the injuries, the Warriors were in it right up until the final minute where Stephen Curry missed a three-point jumper with eight second remaining that would have put his team ahead 113-111.

“We’ll be thinking about this one, it’s tough,” said Curry, who had 21 points in the loss. “But our DNA and who we are and the character that we have on this team, I wouldn’t bet against us being back on this stage next year and going forward.

“So really proud of the way that we fought until the end and this five-year run’s been awesome, but definitely don’t think it’s over.” </s> OAKLAND: The Toronto Raptors became the first Canadian team to win an NBA title with a 114-110 victory over the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors on Thursday (Jun 13) that set off a country-wide celebration.

The victory gave the Raptors a 4-2 series win and denied the Warriors a fourth NBA championship in five years.

Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam each scored 26 points while Kawhi Leonard and reserve Fred VanVleet each added 22 as the Raptors claimed their historic win.

When the final buzzer sounded, jubilant Raptors fans flooded the streets of downtown Toronto for a night of celebration not seen in the city since Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays last won a World Series title in 1993.

Depite playing against a more playoff-seasoned opponent, the Raptors proved unflappable throughout the series and whenever the Warriors looked set to seize momentum Toronto would use some smart passes and precise shooting to maintain control.

Klay Thompson scored 30 points to lead the Warriors but left the game with a left knee injury late in the third quarter after landing awkwardly on his left leg.

Injury-hit Golden State was already without two-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant, who returned in game five Monday after being sidelined for a month only to suffer a ruptured right Achilles tendon.

Andre Iguodala added 22 points for the Warriors, Stephen Curry had 21 and Draymond Green contributed 11 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists.

Golden State had a final shot to win trailing 111-110 but Curry missed a 3-pointer and Green called a timeout when the team had none, setting up three final free throws by Leonard to seal the victory.

Leonard was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player for the second time in his career after the first in 2014 with San Antonio.

The Raptors spoiled the Warriors’ farewell appearance at Oracle Arena. Golden State’s home since 1971 will be replaced by a new US$1 billion venue in San Francisco next season. – AFP </s> 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.

A general view of Oracle Arena during the first half of Game 4 of basketball's NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors in Oakland, Calif., Friday, June 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar) </s> NBA GAME 6

Resilient Raptors rally past Bucks to reach 1st NBA Finals in franchise history

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Toronto closes out series with comeback win on home court

Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard hoists the trophy after the Raptors won the Eastern Conference Final in Game 6 against the Milwaukee Bucks in Toronto on Saturday. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

The Toronto Raptors are headed to the NBA Finals, a Canadian basketball success story 24 years in the making.

Kawhi Leonard poured in 27 points and hauled down a game-high 17 rebounds to lead the Raptors to a thrilling 100-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks that clinched the Eastern Conference finals series 4-2.

Kyle Lowry, playing through the relentless pain of a sprained thumb, had 17 points and eight assists, and grabbed the game ball after the final buzzer sounded on a spectacular comeback.

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The Raptors became just the sixth team in NBA history to win a conference final after losing the first two games.

"Beating this [Bucks] team four times in a row is almost mind boggling," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.

Pascal Siakam chipped in with 18 points, while Fred VanVleet finished with 14.

WATCH | Raptors defeat Bucks in Game 6 to reach NBA Finals:

Show more Kawhi Leonard was magical in Game 6, finishing with 27 points and 17 boards as the Raptors beat the Bucks 100-94 to reach the NBA Finals for the 1st time in franchise history. 2:56

The road doesn't get any easier for Toronto. The defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors await after dispatching the Portland Trail Blazers in four games in the west final almost a week ago. The Finals tip off in Toronto on Thursday.

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But the Raptors paused for a moment to soak it all in Saturday.

Asked what it means to finally break through after seven seasons of playoff frustration, Lowry say "it means a lot."

"It's taken a long time to get here in my career, 13 years, seven years here," he said, his baseball cap reading "NBA Finals" pulled down over his forehead. "I'm going to savour the moment, but I'm not satisfied. Our goal is to win the NBA championship."

Giannis Antetokounmpo, favoured to win the league MVP after leading the Bucks to a league-best 60-win season — two better than Toronto — had 21 points and 11 boards, while Brook Lopez had 18.

The Raptors got off to a shaky start reminiscent of Game 5, giving up a 17-2 Bucks run that straddled the first and second quarters to trail by 15 points early in the first half.

Toronto closed the third quarter with a 10-0 run capped by three Leonard free throws that sliced the Bucks' advantage to 76-71 with one quarter left to play.

"We all felt like we were still in the game," Leonard said. "We had a little bit of momentum left. We just talked amongst each other once again and said 'Let's go out here and enjoy it, and we can play better offence and defence. We ended up doing that, and we ended up winning the game."

WATCH | Kawhi Leonard discusses his journey with Raptors:

Show more After advancing to the NBA finals, Leonard touched on the importance of the Raptors system and how Kyle Lowry helped push him forward. 0:51

The Raptors continued to ride a massive wave of momentum — a 26-3 run punctuated by a massive Leonard dunk from a steal and hand-off from Lowry with 6:46 to play that prompted a roar from the crowd that rocked Scotiabank Arena. The fans didn't sit down again until the game's final buzzer blew.

"We were on a run, and the building exploded after that dunk," said Leonard, the gleaming Eastern Conference trophy sitting between him and Lowry in the post-game press conference. "Kind of got us a little bit more adrenalin to get another stop. I've been playing with [Lowry] for awhile now, and it's just chemistry right there."

The Bucks pulled to within a point with just over five minutes to play, but three-pointers by Marc Gasol and Leonard — Leonard's bouncing up off the rim before falling, in similar fashion to his conference semifinal Game 7 buzzer-beater against Philadelphia — had Toronto up by five with 3:04 to play.

Leonard, who missed all but nine games last season with San Antonio because of a serious quadriceps injury, was breathing heavily, hands on knees, after missing a dunk that Siakam tipped in with 2:06 to play.

A pair of free throws from Lopez made it a three-point game with 29.6 seconds to play, then Siakam was fouled with seven seconds left. The Cameroon big man sank one. Then Leonard was fouled with 3.9 seconds left, and with the crowd chanting "M-V-P!" Toronto's superstar sank both. Game over. Lowry could barely contain his emotions as the final seconds ticked down.

Masai Ujiri, who acquired Leonard in the off-season for much-loved DeMar DeRozan with a lofty goal of an NBA championship in mind, addressed the delirious, confetti-covered crowd after the game, saying "We came all this way to win in Toronto. And we will win in Toronto!"

The Raptors president called Leonard the league's best player.

"I don't care about being the best player, I want to be the best team," Leonard said in response. "Just before the season when we made the trade Masai felt that way about me. He told me how he felt. It's turning out well now. We're in the Finals and we're not done yet."

The Raptors were making just their second Eastern Conference finals appearance in franchise history, and first since they stole two games off LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers before being ousted in six games in 2016.

Ujiri's rebuild included firing coach Dwane Casey and promoting Nurse, then swapping Jonas Valanciunas for Gasol at February's trade deadline.

If fans complained then, they aren't now.

"We've got great fans," Lowry said. "They support us through the good times and the bad times. Right now is a great time, and we're glad that they're our fans." </s> The Toronto Raptors are getting a second chance at a first NBA Title when they tip-off against the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Thursday in Oakland.

The Raptors were two minutes away from securing Canada's first-ever NBA title Monday in Game 5 before falling victim to a barrage of 3-pointers from Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry in a 9-2 finish that was historic on several levels.

Monday's 106-105 final not only produced the first one-point Finals margin since 2007, but it also made the Warriors just the sixth team in NBA history to win a potential elimination game on the road.

History remains on the Raptors' side entering Game 6, even though the scene has shifted back to Oakland. Of the 34 teams that have led a Finals 3-1, 33 have gone on to win the championship. The only exception was the Warriors in 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied to win in seven games.

'We understand that the moment is the moment, but we still are staying in it,' Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said Wednesday. 'We're not too up, we're not too down. We're just one game, hey, we lost it, now we got to move on to the next one.'

Exacerbating matters for Golden State has been the loss of Kevin Durant, who returned from a calf injury to score 11 points in 12 minutes in Game 5, only to sustain a ruptured Achilles in the same leg. Durant is expected to miss the majority of next season, if not the entire 2019-2020 campaign.

Warriors players and fans were outraged during Game 5 when a contingent of Raptors supporters appeared to cheer Durant's injury, even as Toronto veterans Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry attempted to hush them and pat the rival star on the back.

'I expect our fans to be the loudest they have ever been, especially in the name of Kevin and bringing his type of spirit he would bring to the fight and the competitiveness,' Warriors guard Klay Thompson said Wednesday. 'I know our fans will do that because we deserve it, but more importantly, Kevin does for what he gave this team, this organization. There wouldn't be banners if it wasn't for his presence.'

The game will be the Warriors' last at Oracle Arena, which opened as the Oakland Coliseum Arena 47 years ago. Golden State will move to the Chase Center in San Francisco next season.

'This has been just an incredible environment in which to coach and play back in the day,' Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Wednesday. 'Even when the Warriors weren't any good, to come in here as a visitor and feel the energy in this building, you could tell that the fans loved the game.

'This was a basketball hotbed. And just the atmosphere out there, the energy, the noise, over the last five years with our team's rise, combined with that organic energy that this place has always had, it's just been an incredible experience to coach here.'

That energy wasn't enough to prevent Raptors wins in Games 3 and 4 after the Warriors earned a split in the two series-opening games in Toronto.

Raptors coach Nick Nurse said Wednesday he's not surprised the road team has won four of the first five games in the best-of-seven.

'Both teams are really good road teams and have been all season,' he said. 'Two really tough-minded teams playing, and you got to be a little more tough-minded on the road. And I think a lot of those games probably could have went either way.'

The team that had the upper hand in 3-point shooting has prevailed in the first five games of the series.

The Raptors outscored the Warriors 120-96 from beyond the arc in their three wins, while Golden State had a 99-57 dominance in long-range points in its two victories.

As for Durant, the former NBA MVP is likely to start rehabbing his surgically-repaired Achilles tendon almost immediately. And according to a specialist at the Mayo Clinic, he should be back to full strength within a year.

There are no guarantees, however, that Durant will ever feel quite the same after Wednesday's surgery, said Nancy Cummings, an orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic and head orthopedic surgeon for the Minnesota Lynx Women's NBA team.

'It takes about a year to get all your strength back in that muscular complex,' she said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

'I think it's fair to say athletes will put higher demands on it when it's recovered, so that will take a longer time and some people will never feel totally the same after this injury.'

Recent history of NBA players who have ruptured an Achilles shows that they are out of action for about nine months on average.

So even if Durant makes a speedier-than-normal recovery, he is unlikely to be back much before the start of next season's playoffs.

Durant, 30, has the option to become a free agent this summer, so there is no guarantee the two-times NBA Finals' most valuable player will even be with the Warriors next season.

Cummings said knowledge of the best way to rehabilitate a ruptured Achilles had advanced in recent years.

'When I started my training in the '80s it was more 'we'll fix it and immobilize it' (but) tendons like to move,' she said.

'A functional rehab is better than a static rehab.'

Which is good news for professional athletes like Durant.

'Pro athletes have nothing but time afterwards to rehab so they're at an advantage,' she said.

'It starts almost straight away. We give them 10 days to let the incision calm down and then start to have them put weight on it in a functional brace or boot that allows tendon to see some stress.

'You start some exercises such as toe curls and things like that to get muscles around the Achilles moving.

'At about three months we start doing some light jogging if all looks well, and gradual return to sports specific activity, but that tissue that is repaired has to mature some and that typically is about the six-month mark.'

Cummings knew immediately when Durant sustained the injury that it was a ruptured Achilles.

'You see his heel drop down and calf muscle reverberate,' she said. 'It looks very ballistic. I knew the diagnosis the second I saw it.'

Durant's injury not only devastated Warriors fans, but also the supporters of the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, and Los Angeles Clippers, all of whom were reportedly interested in signing the two-time NBA Finals MVP this summer.

The only fans who did not seem upset over Durant's Achilles injury were few who cheered after the 7foot forward went down on Monday in Toronto.

'It was bulls***,' Warriors guard Klay Thompson said after Game 5. 'That was freaking ridiculous. I can't even put into words how mad I was about that.'

Some Raptors fans have attempted to make amends, including one anonymous Canadian who decided to send flowers instead.

According to NBC Sports, the Raptors fan sent a floral arrangement to the Warriors offices in downtown Oakland to apologize 'on behalf of Canada'.

The basket contained an assortment of carnations and a ribbon reading, 'Canada is sorry KD.'

'Dear KD and the Warriors: I can't even believe those dumba** Raptors fans cheered when they saw you were injured,' the card read, according to NBC Sports. 'I was watching the game and felt horrible. It was a total disgrace. I hereby apologize on behalf of Canada. Prayers for recovery.'

A GoFundMe page launched by a suburban Toronto man has raised nearly $30,000 for the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation.

The organizer, Hamzah Moin, said he started the fundraiser to support Durant after some Toronto Raptors fans seemingly reacted with joy when the Golden State Warriors star ruptured his Achilles in the second quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night. Durant had surgery to repair his Achilles on Wednesday.

The Raptors lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Thursday night in Oakland, Calif.

'On behalf of the level-headed and true fans of Raptor Nation - from Toronto to Vancouver to Iqaluit to St. John's, and any fans living outside Canada: we wanted to say `sorry',' Moin wrote.

'We're sorry that some fans of Raptor Nation at the Scotiabank arena, Jurassic Park, and in some bars/restaurants showing the game, displayed an ugly side of fandom when they cheered on the injury of Kevin Durant.

'This isn't cool. This isn't right. This isn't what I expect from fellow Canadians.'

Moin set a goal of $40,000 for the fundraiser. Through mid-day Thursday in Toronto, it had taken in $27,649 from more than 1,000 donors.

On its website, the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation says its mission 'is to enrich the lives of at-risk youth from low-income backgrounds through education, athletic and social programs.' </s> Thousands took to the streets in Toronto to celebrate their home team winning the NBA title, and belt out their national anthem in pride on Monday.

Carrying flags and donning Raptors gear, the crowd came together to sing “O, Canada!” en masse.

The Toronto Raptors won four out of six games against the Golden State Warriors to capture the franchise’s first NBA championship, winning the final game against the Bay Area team 114-110 last Thursday night.

The NBA reported Friday that 56% of the Canadian population watched at least some part of the NBA Finals, with an average viewership of 8 million for title-winning victory in Game 6.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also joined in on the festivities, shaking hands and taking pictures with fellow fans.

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com </s> The 2019 NBA Finals between the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors will be historic in several ways.

Toronto is making its NBA Finals debut, and it will be the first time the league’s championship series will feature games played outside of the United States. Golden State has reached the Finals for the fifth consecutive season, a feat accomplished only by the Boston Celtics, who went to 10 Finals in a row from 1957-66.

Game 1 is tonight at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (9 p.m., ABC).

The Warriors, the top seed in the Western Conference, can become only the third franchise to win three consecutive titles in the past 50 years (the others are the Bulls from 1991-93 and 1996-98 and the Lakers from 2000-02). Golden State has won the title in three of the past four seasons.

The Warriors have won six NBA Championships, tied with the Bulls for third place all-time, behind the Celtics (17) and Lakers (16).

The Raptors, who finished second in the Eastern Conference but defeated top-seeded Milwaukee in six games in the conference finals, have won at least 50 games in each of the past four seasons and swept the two-game season series from the Warriors for the first time in 17 years.

Warriors star Kevin Durant will miss Game 1 due to the calf injury that has idled him the past five games (Golden State is 5-0 without him). DeMarcus Cousins (torn quad) is listed as questionable.

Kawhi Leonard is averaging 31.2 points per game in the playoffs for Toronto. Stephen Curry is averaging 27.3 points for Golden State.

Join the conversation in the comments </s> Leonard named Finals MVP; Toronto becomes first team outside U.S. to capture crown

Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard (2) handles the ball while Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) defends during second half basketball action in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Oakland, Calif. on Thursday, June 13, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

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, who was named Finals MVP, finished with 22, and Serge Ibaka chipped in with 15.

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.

“Last summer, man, I was going through a lot,” Leonard said on the live TV broadcast. “And I had a great support system, just kept working hard and had my mindset on this goal right here. I came to a team and a coach with the (same) mindset as mine.”

“I’m going to enjoy this with my teammates and coaches and I’ll think about that later,” Leonard said.

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!”

READ MORE: ‘Canada is sorry’: Raptors fan sends Kevin Durant flowers to apologize for cheering injury

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.”

READ MORE: Raptors say they’re simply staying in the moment as Game 6 approaches

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.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter </s> Maybe it’s because no Canadian team has won a title in any of the big four North American professional sports (hockey, baseball, NFL football or basketball) in a very long time.

Those last winners–the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Canadiens–were in 1993.

So that might explain why things things are getting just a little bit crazy in Toronto.

In a good way, of course.

It is Toronto, after all.

And over what, exactly?

The Toronto Raptors host the Golden State Warriors tonight in Game One the National Basketball Association championship series,

The leadup has seen some fans jump atop a police car following an early-round victory and the NBA warning the Raptors’ most famous fan, the rap star Drake, to put a lid on it.

Actually, nobody should really be all that surprised that the game has struck a nerve.

A closer look reveals that some of the best basketball players in the world are playing in scholastic and amateur leagues in Toronto.

Many will tell you basketball is the fastest growing sport in Canada.

And it is apparently is paying off for a lot of kids with dreams of glory.

Canada now has the most players not born in the United States in the NBA (13 at the start of the season).

And there is no shortage of star power and brilliance to stir the emotions in this series.

The Raptors are led by a brilliant Zen master of a player from California named Kawhi Leonard, possessor of an uncanny ability to bide is time until he is really needed to secure victory and then provide it (at least so far).

The Warriors are led by brilliant guard Steph Curry (who played briefly as a kid in Toronto), who has led the team to three titles in the last four years.

Should the Warriors win this series, there are few who would disagree that will have to be included in any future conversations about the greatest teams of all time.

But get this: the Raptors are slightly favoured. Very slighty–mainly, some would say, because they hold the homecourt advantage over the next seven games, an advantage, of course, that disappears should they lose tonight.

With any luck at all, this could get really, really good.

Enough to make people forget the last 26 years?

Looking for an omen?

The game of basketball was invented by a Canadian.
In basketball, the Toronto Raptors defeat the Golden State Warriors four games to two to win their first NBA championship. The Toronto Raptors are also the first NBA team outside of the United States and the first from Canada to win the NBA Finals.