{"id":1311274,"date":"2019-06-11T17:32:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T23:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/much-at-stake-in-a-last-nba-finals-trip-to-oracle-arena\/"},"modified":"2019-06-11T17:32:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T23:32:00","slug":"much-at-stake-in-a-last-nba-finals-trip-to-oracle-arena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/much-at-stake-in-a-last-nba-finals-trip-to-oracle-arena\/","title":{"rendered":"Much at stake in a last NBA Finals trip to Oracle Arena"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, right, celebrates in front of Toronto Raptors’ Fred VanVleet at the final buzzer as the Warriors beat the Raptors 106-105 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Toronto on Monday, June 10, 2019. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/strong>
AP | The Canadian Press<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 The NBA Finals are making one last trip to Oracle Arena.<\/p>\n

For the Toronto Raptors, it\u2019s a second shot at a first championship.<\/p>\n

For the Golden State Warriors, it\u2019ll be a night to play for a fallen teammate and the fans they\u2019re leaving behind.<\/p>\n

Game 6 is Thursday and the stakes could hardly be higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe our fans one more game in Oracle,\u201d Warriors guard Klay Thompson said.<\/p>\n

There have been so many already during Golden State\u2019s stretch of five straight trips to the NBA Finals, the second-longest run in NBA history. But few had all the drama and emotion that will fill the Oakland air Thursday.<\/p>\n

Toronto will bring a 3-2 lead into the building and try again to win a title that seemed so close in Game 5. The Raptors had a six-point lead with less than 3 minutes remaining Monday, poised to put an end to a Golden era in the NBA. Then Thompson and Stephen Curry rallied Golden State to a 106-105 victory, fueled by three straight 3-pointers.<\/p>\n

Now the Raptors have to do things a little bit better, for a little bit longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome out and do the same thing. Just be mentally focused, try to limit our mistakes, and be the aggressor,\u201d Kawhi Leonard said. \u201cJust play hard 48 minutes and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the last game in the arena before the Warriors move to the new Chase Center in San Francisco, and the first one for Golden State with the knowledge that Kevin Durant won\u2019t be back this season. The two-time defending champions began the series hoping he could return from a strained right calf, but not long after he did he was lost in the second quarter of Game 5 with an Achilles tendon injury.<\/p>\n

Center Kevon Looney also went out again, so the Warriors are nowhere near full strength as they make their final stand.<\/p>\n

They can\u2019t worry about that now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re the only team battling,\u201d Draymond Green said. \u201cThey\u2019re battling as well. Everybody is facing fatigue at this point. No one cares who is tired or if you\u2019re facing a little fatigue. You\u2019ve got to do what you came here to do anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Warriors are trying to become the 12th team to come back from a 3-1 deficit and only the second in the NBA Finals, after the Cleveland Cavaliers did it against them in 2016. Being back home Thursday is a luxury but certainly no guarantee, not after Toronto won Games 3 and 4 at Oracle Arena to go along with its victory there in the regular season.<\/p>\n

So the Raptors won\u2019t be rattled by having to go back there, even though they nearly avoided it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came into this series expecting a long series and we put ourselves in a good position,\u201d guard Fred VanVleet said.<\/p>\n

A loss Thursday sends the Warriors into a summer they won\u2019t be eager to face. Durant can become a free agent and will have to decide where he wants to play \u2014 whenever he can play. Thompson\u2019s contract also expires, so these could be the final days of a dynasty.<\/p>\n

But until then, the Warriors are showing they can win with skill or will. They\u2019ve beaten teams for so long just because of their talent advantages, but getting this title would require much more than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made a lot of different statements over the course of these five years,\u201d Curry said. \u201cWin or lose, I don\u2019t feel like we need to prove anything anymore. It\u2019s just about can we get the job done or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, right, celebrates in front of Toronto Raptors’ Fred VanVleet at the final buzzer as the Warriors beat the Raptors 106-105 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Toronto on Monday, June 10, 2019. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)AP | The Canadian Press TORONTO \u2014 The NBA Finals are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 22:47:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}