He did it. Kawhi brought Toronto an NBA Championship. To the 6. Canada. Impressive.
The Raptors have been a #1 seed in the East before. Then let LeBron slap them around in an ugly sweep. After that, DeRozen had to go. Remember him crying? I get that he was a little caught off guard, but come on man. Great trade by Toronto. At the time Kawhi was still kind of in the dark, injured/not injured, feuding with Pop behind the scenes, is he healthy, missed a year. A lot was going on that year for Kawhi and Toronto made the best move in their franchise history. They traded for Leonard and won a Championship his first year playing there.
Oo yea don’t forget that Toronto just fired their “2018 Coach of the Year” Dwayne Casey after last season. A move they got roasted for. Next year? First Championship in franchise history. Two monster moves by the GM. No wonder why DC wants to give Masai Ujiri 10mil a year to work for them instead.
If Giannis is the Greek Freak, what is Kawhi? The California Freak? He looks just as freaky on the floor and actually has a jumper. Have you seen his hands? He’s also almost too quiet of a guy. Also freaky right? This guy just carried an entire country on his back along with his team to a very impressive Championship run, I think I’ve heard him say 10 words along the way. Even on the floor, he’s finishing And-1s and doesn’t yell in the other dudes face. He doesn’t flail his legs out on 3s. He doesn’t bitch and complain at every single call on the floor. There are not too many studs in the NBA like Leonard you can say that about. He feels like an Old School guy that would have played in the 80’s but just so happens to play in today’s NBA, which is full of whiney, flailing, complainers.
Give some credit to Golden State. Ever since they signed Durant they couldn’t really afford a strong, deep bench like years past. Once he went down it was tough, but still doable. But after seeing Klay go down this game, I’m happy to see it end after Game 6. Curry even had a good look at a 3 (Why a 3 down 1? never understand that) to end the game. Draymond started to really play well after Durant went down and even if KD leaves, they’re still really good. Game 7 in Toronto could have been ugly if Thompson can’t go.
This was a solid Toronto team when you have Kawhi playing like that. With Siakam, Ibaka, Gasol and Kawhi, that’s a ton of length and size. Siakam played out of his mind at times, almost like he’s too young to understand how big his games were. Ibaka and Gasol capitalized on a chance for their middle of the road, underwhelming careers, to reach the next level. Also Fred Van Fleet was great. Hitting huge shots. Big 3s. When Leonard was getting double/triple teamed, he was the only guard that seemed to hit a big shot.
Nice job Toronto. It took Kawhi to carry, but at least you made the move to get him, got there, and Finished.