Toronto Raptors win 2019 NBA Championship.

[Drygon]

Kevin Durant playing in Game 5 was the turning point. If he hadn’t played, he wouldn’t have ruptured his Achilles tendon and Golden State Warriors would have lost the game considering they needed every one of his 11 points to win the game.

They lose Game 5, series is over and Klay Thompson wouldn’t have been injured in Game 6.

I understand that Golden State Warriors were trying to save their championship run but Durant playing had a disastrous cascading effect for them. Not only for the up-coming season, but arguably even in 2020-21 season. We've no idea if Durant and/or Klay will become All-NBA caliber players again.

[10giz]

Do not compare what Dirk did against a fully STACKED Miami Heat team to the hobbled Warriors the Raptors beat.

They beat the 3 best teams in the playoffs IMO in Philly, Milwaukee and GS. They did it with a mix of slow pace, gritty defence, as well as fast paced O, three point bombs, crisp passing.

And a **** ton of luck.

You're not wrong.

But at the same time, pick a year and I can show you plenty of "luck" that helped the eventual champion get there.

No team has ever one any championship without some "luck" along the way.

But with or without luck, Raptors were still the best team in the NBA over the playoffs.

Frankly, if we didn't lose like 100+ games to injury over the course of the year we most likely would've finished the best regular season team too but alas, proved to be irrelevant.

[Vampirate]

Every single championship requires a **** load of smarts and luck to build.

[GotDaSauce]

Just heard people got shot up at the parade?????

[Clyde Frazier]

Read on Twitter

[Vampirate]

Read on Twitter

The man has an entire nation to himself if he chooses.

[6ixSideSniper]

The "what if blah blah was blah blah" is moot point.

What if KD is back, and that sets in urgency into DG who decides to go back to shooting 50% from 3s? What if Klay decides to defer further in the game to get KD shots but Warriors are still down? What if OG Anunoby never got injured? Zach Lowe was comparing him defensively to Kawhi earlier this season.

Lets just enjoy this Raptors champion! 13 teams left in the association still yet to win a champion.

[Van_Trump]

Was at the parade today. Literally a sea of people.

A lot of news coverage. Didn't used to be like that in Toronto.

Now all of you on the General Board can see by my join date I'm not a bandwagon fan.

I remember the lowest of the low:
The Raptors were playing a game and it was being broadcast on one of our sports channels. Don't remember which one.
There was less than a minute to go in the game. It was running long, as basketball games do when the score is close, and teams are calling timeouts.
Well, the game ran longer than the network had allocated time, so they just cut the feed and switched to a different sport (don't remember, might have been curling). They just stopped broadcasting a game in progress with less than a minute to go!

This is the level of disrespect Toronto Raptor fans have had to put up with over the years. So it seemed really bizarre and abnormal to me during this finals run. We actually had wall to wall news coverage!
Not only the sports channels, but the news channels as well.

So, for all the long suffering Raptors fans on RealGm, this championship was more than just winning, it was about gaining respect. And increased news coverage.

[dakomish23]

I’m sure this was already posted somewhere, but I thought this was a good gesture

Read on Twitter

[BayArea408415]

The KD argument is legit. However if you use that you can't bunch it together with Klay's injury if that makes sense. Warriors are 1-2 when Klay played the entire game without Durant. Game 1 was an L, game 2 was a W, game 4 was an L. If you count game 5 that's ridiculous since the Raptors outscored the Warriors after KD went down, so if anything you might as well chalk that up as another L.

So, the 12 minutes KD played won them the game? I want to give KD as much credit as possible after the risk he took but the Warriors were up 6 when he went down. Throughout the game, the Warriors built up a double digit lead twice (without Durant) and proceeded to blow it twice. In the end, the Raptors built up a 6 point lead before Nurse took that "timeout" and needed Curry and Klay's 3 point shooting heroics to win them the game. To say Durant won them the game would be a bit disingenuous and placing all of the win on winning the 1st quarter rather than the final plays that actually won the Warriors the game. If Curry and Klay didn't hit those clutch 3's, the Raptors win in 5. Those shots literally won them the game.

The Raptors outplayed the Warriors with Steph and Klay playing without KD, so to say that it's very possible (or certain as I've seen some say) that the Warriors would have beat the Raptors if Klay didn't go down is ridiculous. Hell the Raptors almost swept the Warriors.

But they didn't now did they? Close games occur in sports all the time. A bounce here or there and a series could completely flip (even more so in hockey). However, you're not adding context here to the "sweep" argument. You're either including the Game 3 in this "sweep" where neither Klay or Durant played or the Game 2 where the Raptors only made a comeback against the Warriors double digit lead (built upon the 18-0 run) after Klay went down. In both instances, the sweep would only be possible without both Klay and Durant playing. I've already stated elsewhere that the Raptors sweep a Warriors team that is missing Durant/Klay the entire series.

Anyways, the Warriors were up in Game 6 by 4 when Klay went down. He was the hottest player on the floor for that game and the entire series. His performance was very reminiscent of his Game 6 against OKC in the 2016 WCF. The Warriors lost Game 6 by 1 point (the technical FT and other FT's were meaningless) with Klay missing the final 14 minutes. It's a fair argument to suggest that Klay would be enough to carry the Warriors past that 1 point margin and into a Game 7. Would they win Game 7? Who knows? I think it would have been a tossup with Klay playing and the pressure back on Toronto to not blow a 3-1 lead.

[Grape]

The KD argument is legit. However if you use that you can't bunch it together with Klay's injury if that makes sense. Warriors are 1-2 when Klay played the entire game without Durant. Game 1 was an L, game 2 was a W, game 4 was an L. If you count game 5 that's ridiculous since the Raptors outscored the Warriors after KD went down, so if anything you might as well chalk that up as another L.

So, the 12 minutes KD played won them the game? I want to give KD as much credit as possible after the risk he took but the Warriors were up 6 when he went down. Throughout the game, the Warriors built up a double digit lead twice (without Durant) and proceeded to blow it twice. In the end, the Raptors built up a 6 point lead before Nurse took that "timeout" and needed Curry and Klay's 3 point shooting heroics to win them the game. To say Durant won them the game would be a bit disingenuous and placing all of the win on winning the 1st quarter rather than the final plays that actually won the Warriors the game. If Curry and Klay didn't hit those clutch 3's, the Raptors win in 5. Those shots literally won them the game.

The Raptors outplayed the Warriors with Steph and Klay playing without KD, so to say that it's very possible (or certain as I've seen some say) that the Warriors would have beat the Raptors if Klay didn't go down is ridiculous. Hell the Raptors almost swept the Warriors.

But they didn't now did they? Close games occur in sports all the time. A bounce here or there and a series could completely flip (even more so in hockey). However, you're not adding context here to the "sweep" argument. You're including the Game 3 in this "sweep" where neither Klay or Durant played and the Game 2 where the Raptors only made a comeback against the Warriors double digit lead (built upon the 18-0 run) after Klay went down. In both instances, the sweep would only be possible without both Klay and Durant playing. I've already stated elsewhere that the Raptors sweep a Warriors team that is missing Durant/Klay the entire series.

Anyways, the Warriors were up in Game 6 by 4 when Klay went down. He was the hottest player on the floor for that game and the entire series. His performance was very reminiscent of his Game 6 against OKC in the 2016 WCF. The Warriors lost Game 6 by 1 point (the technical FT and other FT's were meaningless) with Klay missing the final 14 minutes. It's a fair argument to suggest that Klay would be enough to carry the Warriors past that 1 point margin and into a Game 7. Would they win Game 7? Who knows? I think it would have been a tossup with Klay playing and the pressure back on Toronto to not blow a 3-1 lead.

The Raptors outscored the Warriors without KD in game 5. It's literally as simple as that. You can't count that game because KD played in it and at the end of the game judging by the score, was very important to the outcome of it.

Of course they didn't sweep the Warriors, it didn't happen. However if people are going to make more ridiculous arguments like if Klay didn't get injured the Raptors would have lost the series, it's very easy to just point to the fact that they almost did get swept.

[BayArea408415]

The Raptors outscored the Warriors without KD in game 5. It's literally as simple as that. You can't count that game because KD played in it and at the end of the game judging by the score, was very important to the outcome of it.

The Raptors were ahead of the Warriors by 6 points with about 3 minutes remaining in Game 5. That was despite Durant playing 12 minutes in the first half. If Curry and Klay don't hit those 3's, they lost regardless. Judging by the fact that those 3's literally won them the game, you can't just discount them. It's really that simple.

The fact of the matter is the scoring throughout the game indicates that it was possible the Warriors win Game 5 without Durant. They built and blew two double digit leads without him and made the 9-0 run at the end of the game without him. If you want to add a qualifier that the Warriors were 2-2 against the Raptors with Klay missing approximately 1/16 quarters and with Durant playing 1/16 quarters, so be it.

[Grape]

The Raptors outscored the Warriors without KD in game 5. It's literally as simple as that. You can't count that game because KD played in it and at the end of the game judging by the score, was very important to the outcome of it.

The Raptors were ahead of the Warriors by 6 points with about 3 minutes remaining in Game 5. That was despite Durant playing 12 minutes in the first half. If Curry and Klay don't hit those 3's, they lost regardless. Judging by the fact that those 3's literally won them the game, you can't just discount them. It's really that simple.

Lol for those 6 points you guys made up I can point to 6 points for the Raptors scored as well. We can keep playing this game until you run out of points and I have an extra 5 (I believe 5) to point at and say that we outscored you without KD. This doesn't just apply to game 5. We generally outplayed you without KD (with Klay playing), so for your fans to claim that Klay getting injured lost the series is blasphemous.

Honestly no sane Raptors fan is going to tell you that we would have definitely beat the Warriors even with KD playing. That's something we can't fight against. However, it's other hypocrisy's such as people saying the Warriors are as good or better without KD and then using KD as an excuse to losing that are insufferable. Or saying the Warriors will still easily beat the Raptors even without KD, but then after the Raptors win comfortably a couple of times it becomes of course that was going to happen.

Now Warriors fans jump on Klay getting hurt late in game 6 as to somehow being the turning point in the series, when there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that the Warriors would have beat the Raptors with Klay, and if anything, there's more evidence pointing towards the Raptors being the better team with a healthy Klay (again without KD).

Losing Klay definitely almost guaranteed a series loss and that was incredibly unfortunate. But the Raptors were outplaying the KD'less Warriors either way.

PS. and to your previous point: of course they didn't sweep the Warriors, it didn't happen, I'm using the fact that they ALMOST did as a counter. BEcause if people are going to make more ridiculous arguments like "if Klay didn't get injured the Raptors would have lost the series," it's very easy to just point to the fact that they almost got swept even with 3 games of Klay as evidence to why it's a horrible argument.

[BayArea408415]

Lol for those 6 points you guys made up I can point to 6 points for the Raptors scored as well. We can keep playing this game until you run out of points and I have an extra 5 (I believe 5) to point at and say that we outscored you without KD. This doesn't just apply to game 5. We generally outplayed you without KD (with Klay playing), so for your fans to claim that Klay getting injured lost the series is blasphemous.

So, what about the extra points scored by the Raptors in Game 2 when Klay went down you're presumably including in your sweep argument? It's either that or the Game 3 where Klay didn't even play. In that sense, we could do this back and forth forever.

The sample size you're using for outplaying the Warriors without KD's 12 minutes and Klay missing zero time is 3 games where the Warriors went 1-2. I'm not sure that's enough to prove they clearly win the series with Klay healthy the entire series.

Honestly no sane Raptors fan is going to tell you that we would have definitely beat the Warriors even with KD playing. That's something we can't fight against. However, it's other hypocrisy's such as people saying the Warriors are as good or better without KD and then using KD as an excuse to losing that are insufferable. Or saying the Warriors will still easily beat the Raptors even without KD, but then after the Raptors win comfortably a couple of times it becomes of course that was going to happen.

Now Warriors fans jump on Klay getting hurt late in game 6 as to somehow being the turning point in the series, when there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that the Warriors would have beat the Raptors with Klay, and if anything, there's more evidence pointing towards the Raptors being the better team with a healthy Klay (again without KD)

Eh, quite a few of them thought it would go 7 even if Durant and Klay were healthy the entire series. That's despite it nearly going 7 with Durant playing 12 minutes and Klay missing approximately 1/4 of the series. I haven't seen anyone suggest the Warriors are as good or better without KD. At least not any Warriors fan. Maybe some non Warriors fans suggested that. That was a narrative spun by a few talking heads in the media and a narrative falsely being applied to Warriors' fans on this forum.

I'll note that I saw some people suggest the Warriors win in 6 or 7 with no Durant assuming Klay was healthy the entire series. That's certainly reasonable unlike the Warriors in 4 or 5 takes. I wouldn't be surprised if the Raptors won in 6 or 7 with a healthy Klay (but no Durant) but we didn't even get a chance to see that.

Now Warriors fans jump on Klay getting hurt late in game 6 as to somehow being the turning point in the series, when there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that the Warriors would have beat the Raptors with Klay, and if anything, there's more evidence pointing towards the Raptors being the better team with a healthy Klay (again without KD).

Losing Klay definitely almost guaranteed a series loss and that was incredibly unfortunate. But the Raptors were outplaying the KD'less Warriors either way.

PS. and to your previous point: of course they didn't sweep the Warriors, it didn't happen, I'm using the fact that they ALMOST did as a counter. BEcause if people are going to make more ridiculous arguments like "if Klay didn't get injured the Raptors would have lost the series," it's very easy to just point to the fact that they almost got swept even with 3 games of Klay as evidence to why it's a horrible argument.

It was the turning point for the end of the series. The Warriors were up 4 with 2-3 minutes remaining in the 3rd when Klay went down. He was shooting out of his mind and the best player on the floor through 3 quarters of Game 6. He was carrying the Warriors and the Raptors literally could not stop him. It did not "definitely almost" guarantee a series loss. It 100% assured it. Game 7 would have been a repeat of Game 3 had the Warriors held on.

Your "almost" sweeping them argument hinges on either of Game 2 or 3 does it not? In Game 2, the Warriors almost blew a double digit lead (built on a 18-0 run in the 3rd quarter) after Klay went down with 8-9 minutes remaining and Klay did not even play in Game 3. That is context crucial to the sweep argument.

[Grape]

Lol for those 6 points you guys made up I can point to 6 points for the Raptors scored as well. We can keep playing this game until you run out of points and I have an extra 5 (I believe 5) to point at and say that we outscored you without KD. This doesn't just apply to game 5. We generally outplayed you without KD (with Klay playing), so for your fans to claim that Klay getting injured lost the series is blasphemous.

So, what about the extra points scored by the Raptors in Game 2 when Klay went down you're presumably including in your sweep argument? It's either that or the Game 3 where Klay didn't even play. In that sense, we could do this back and forth forever.

The sample size you're using for outplaying the Warriors without KD's 12 minutes and Klay missing zero time is 3 games where the Warriors went 1-2. I'm not sure that's enough to prove they clearly win the series with Klay healthy the entire series.

Honestly no sane Raptors fan is going to tell you that we would have definitely beat the Warriors even with KD playing. That's something we can't fight against. However, it's other hypocrisy's such as people saying the Warriors are as good or better without KD and then using KD as an excuse to losing that are insufferable. Or saying the Warriors will still easily beat the Raptors even without KD, but then after the Raptors win comfortably a couple of times it becomes of course that was going to happen.

Now Warriors fans jump on Klay getting hurt late in game 6 as to somehow being the turning point in the series, when there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that the Warriors would have beat the Raptors with Klay, and if anything, there's more evidence pointing towards the Raptors being the better team with a healthy Klay (again without KD)

Eh, quite a few of them thought it would go 7 even if Durant and Klay were healthy the entire series. That's despite it nearly going 7 with Durant playing 12 minutes and Klay missing approximately 1/4 of the series. I haven't seen anyone suggest the Warriors are as good or better without KD. At least not any Warriors fan. Maybe some non Warriors fans suggested that. That was a narrative spun by a few talking heads in the media and a narrative falsely being applied to Warriors' fans on this forum.

I'll note that I saw some people suggest the Warriors win in 6 or 7 with no Durant assuming Klay was healthy the entire series. That's certainly reasonable unlike the Warriors in 4 or 5 takes. I wouldn't be surprised if the Raptors won in 6 or 7 with a healthy Klay (but no Durant) but we didn't even get a chance to see that.

Now Warriors fans jump on Klay getting hurt late in game 6 as to somehow being the turning point in the series, when there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that the Warriors would have beat the Raptors with Klay, and if anything, there's more evidence pointing towards the Raptors being the better team with a healthy Klay (again without KD).

Losing Klay definitely almost guaranteed a series loss and that was incredibly unfortunate. But the Raptors were outplaying the KD'less Warriors either way.

PS. and to your previous point: of course they didn't sweep the Warriors, it didn't happen, I'm using the fact that they ALMOST did as a counter. BEcause if people are going to make more ridiculous arguments like "if Klay didn't get injured the Raptors would have lost the series," it's very easy to just point to the fact that they almost got swept even with 3 games of Klay as evidence to why it's a horrible argument.

It was the turning point for the end of the series. The Warriors were up 4 with 2-3 minutes remaining in the 3rd when Klay went down. He was shooting out of his mind and the best player on the floor through 3 quarters of Game 6. He was carrying the Warriors and the Raptors literally could not stop him. It did not "definitely almost" guarantee a series loss. It 100% assured it. Game 7 would have been a repeat of Game 3 had the Warriors held on.

Your "almost" sweeping them argument hinges on either of Game 2 or 3 does it not? In Game 2, the Warriors almost blew a double digit lead (built on a 18-0 run in the 3rd quarter) after Klay went down with 8-9 minutes remaining and Klay did not even play in Game 3. That is context crucial to the sweep argument.

I mean honestly I don't disagree with much here so there's not much for me to argue. I too, picked Warriors in 6 given that KD would return in game 4 or 5. If I knew he'd play 1 quarter, I may have gone Warriors in 7.

I'm using these arguments as clear points to emphasize the people are spewing nonsense on the side of "GS would definitely win if Klay didn't get hurt"; nothing you're saying is inaccurate.

It's a very small sample size of course. But at the end of the day that's what a series is. KD not being there was pretty clearly a big L for the Warriors, just as losing a key player in the playoffs has been in the past for many other teams facing GS, even if they didn't stand a chance in the first place. At the end of the day, the Raptors were marginally better point wise on a small sample size even with only KD not playing (probably +10 give or take in a 220 minute sample), and in my opinion, that alone makes those radical arguments invalid.

[Metallikid]

Kevin Durant playing in Game 5 was the turning point. If he hadn’t played, he wouldn’t have ruptured his Achilles tendon and Golden State Warriors would have lost the game considering they needed every one of his 11 points to win the game.

They lose Game 5, series is over and Klay Thompson wouldn’t have been injured in Game 6.

I understand that Golden State Warriors were trying to save their championship run but Durant playing had a disastrous cascading effect for them. Not only for the up-coming season, but arguably even in 2020-21 season. We've no idea if Durant and/or Klay will become All-NBA caliber players again.

I personally believe the basketball gods did not look kindly on a lot of the things the Warriors did in the Finals and that's why these injuries happened.

It's never a good idea to imply injuries on any team whether it's karma based or not. Associating "Basketball gods" to these devastating injuries in such context, right after the game, it was also uncalled for. - Ken

[BayArea408415]

I mean honestly I don't disagree with much here so there's not much for me to argue. I too, picked Warriors in 6 given that KD would return in game 4 or 5. If I knew he'd play 1 quarter, I may have gone Warriors in 7

I think there are a lot of false narratives being thrown around to disparage the Warriors. I don't remember the exact number from the media but quite a few of them picked the Warriors in 6 or 7 presuming Durant returns by Game 4 or 5. If they had known he wouldn't return at all (save for 12 minutes), I wouldn't have been surprised to see them switch to the Raptors. If they knew Klay would miss time on top of it, Raptors would become clear favorites.

Only a blatantly ridiculous hot take would suggest the Warriors win in 4 or 5 without Durant.

I'm using these arguments as clear points to emphasize the people are spewing nonsense on the side of "GS would definitely win if Klay didn't get hurt"; nothing you're saying is inaccurate.

I don't disagree. It wasn't a given the Warriors win with Klay not going down in Game 6 or a healthy Klay the entire series but it's certainly reasonable to say they may have won.

It's a very small sample size of course. But at the end of the day that's what a series is. KD not being there was pretty clearly a big L for the Warriors, just as losing a key player in the playoffs has been in the past for many other teams facing GS, even if they didn't stand a chance in the first place. At the end of the day, the Raptors were marginally better point wise on a small sample size even with only KD not playing (probably +10 give or take in a 220 minute sample), and in my opinion, that alone makes those radical arguments invalid.

Well, if you're referring to the Warriors were guaranteed to win with a healthy Klay arguments, I agree with you. There was absolutely no guarantee. Could it happen? Sure, but it's possible the Raptors still win in 6 or 7.

Anyways, I'm not taking anything away from the Raptors. They had a tough road (Bucks and Sixesr) to the Finals and deserved their championship. Injuries are part of the game and as far as I'm aware there hasn't been an NBA playoffs not impacted by them.

Personally, I'm happy for the Raptors. I'm from the GTA myself (moved to the Bay Area when I was 5) and half my family is there. They're all Raptors fans including my own father. The Raptors are even my 2nd favorite team and the one team in the league I'd want winning chips besides the Warriors. It's just insufferable seeing all these false narratives being thrown around that these 2019 depleted Warriors are" the GOAT team (like 2017 or 2018)", "same 73-9 team" and "4 all-stars without Durant" when context suggests otherwise.

[everdiso]

The raptors were significantly better even with Klay playing. And not only playing, but playing out of his mind.

People are missing that point - the warriors needed Klay playing way over his head just to keep this series respectable. The raptors didn't benefit from any similar outsized performance.


And of course, the health argument is stupid anyways - the raps spent all year load managing everyone specifically to ensure they would have the health advantage come playoffs, and they did. That wasn't luck.

[Clementine64]

The KD argument is legit. However if you use that you can't bunch it together with Klay's injury if that makes sense. Warriors are 1-2 when Klay played the entire game without Durant. Game 1 was an L, game 2 was a W, game 4 was an L. If you count game 5 that's ridiculous since the Raptors outscored the Warriors after KD went down, so if anything you might as well chalk that up as another L.

So, the 12 minutes KD played won them the game? I want to give KD as much credit as possible after the risk he took but the Warriors were up 6 when he went down. Throughout the game, the Warriors built up a double digit lead twice (without Durant) and proceeded to blow it twice. In the end, the Raptors built up a 6 point lead before Nurse took that "timeout" and needed Curry and Klay's 3 point shooting heroics to win them the game. To say Durant won them the game would be a bit disingenuous and placing all of the win on winning the 1st quarter rather than the final plays that actually won the Warriors the game. If Curry and Klay didn't hit those clutch 3's, the Raptors win in 5. Those shots literally won them the game.

The Raptors outplayed the Warriors with Steph and Klay playing without KD, so to say that it's very possible (or certain as I've seen some say) that the Warriors would have beat the Raptors if Klay didn't go down is ridiculous. Hell the Raptors almost swept the Warriors.

But they didn't now did they? Close games occur in sports all the time. A bounce here or there and a series could completely flip (even more so in hockey). However, you're not adding context here to the "sweep" argument. You're either including the Game 3 in this "sweep" where neither Klay or Durant played or the Game 2 where the Raptors only made a comeback against the Warriors double digit lead (built upon the 18-0 run) after Klay went down. In both instances, the sweep would only be possible without both Klay and Durant playing. I've already stated elsewhere that the Raptors sweep a Warriors team that is missing Durant/Klay the entire series.

Anyways, the Warriors were up in Game 6 by 4 when Klay went down. He was the hottest player on the floor for that game and the entire series. His performance was very reminiscent of his Game 6 against OKC in the 2016 WCF. The Warriors lost Game 6 by 1 point (the technical FT and other FT's were meaningless) with Klay missing the final 14 minutes. It's a fair argument to suggest that Klay would be enough to carry the Warriors past that 1 point margin and into a Game 7. Would they win Game 7? Who knows? I think it would have been a tossup with Klay playing and the pressure back on Toronto to not blow a 3-1 lead.

Fun guy took y'all down.....Whadidu baby!

[Johnny Bball]

They beat the 3 best teams in the playoffs IMO in Philly, Milwaukee and GS. They did it with a mix of slow pace, gritty defence, as well as fast paced O, three point bombs, crisp passing.

And a **** ton of luck.

You're not wrong.

But at the same time, pick a year and I can show you plenty of "luck" that helped the eventual champion get there.

No team has ever one any championship without some "luck" along the way.

But with or without luck, Raptors were still the best team in the NBA over the playoffs.

Frankly, if we didn't lose like 100+ games to injury over the course of the year we most likely would've finished the best regular season team too but alas, proved to be irrelevant.

Nope takes some luck. They had plenty in their years.

Then again I don’t think drawing Orlando, Sixers, Bucks, GSW is very lucky.

This also could have been over in four with a little “luck”. Not a shot at the warriors, but was just furious after game two.

And I’m glad it wasn’t important to chase the regular season wins and that it didn’t come back to bite them with a game 7 in Milwaukee. That was hard work and heart there... not luck.