The 2019 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2018–19 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In the best-of-seven playoff series, the Eastern Conference champion Toronto Raptors defeated the two-time defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors in six games to win their first NBA championship. The Raptors' victory made the team the first NBA team based outside the United States to win an NBA championship. Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the second time in his career. This was the first NBA Finals appearance for the Raptors and the first NBA Finals with games played outside of the United States.
The Warriors were favored heading into the Finals, but the Raptors have home-court advantage due to their better regular-season record. This was the first Finals since 2010 not to feature LeBron James, who had played in the past eight consecutive Finals.
The Raptors opened the series with a dominant Game One victory. After the Warriors tied the series in Game Two, the Raptors won the next two games on the road. Back in Toronto, Warriors star Kevin Durant returned from an injury-related absence, but tore his Achilles tendon. Nonetheless, the Warriors won Game Five on the road, sending the series to a Game Six in the Oracle Arena. Game Six was marred by an ACL tear suffered by star Warriors guard Klay Thompson. The Raptors won Game Six, 114–110, to win their first NBA championship.
As of , this remains the most recent championship in the four major North American sports leagues won by a Canadian team.
Background
Golden State Warriors
During the off-season, Golden State acquired DeMarcus Cousins, who was recovering from a ruptured left Achilles. He gave the Warriors a true, top-flight center for the first time under head coach Steve Kerr. During an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in November 2018, Draymond Green cursed out teammate Kevin Durant over his upcoming free agency status after the season, and he was suspended for the much-publicized blowup. In January 2019, Cousins returned, and the Warriors became the first team in 42 years with a starting lineup of five NBA All-Stars from the previous season. The team finished the regular season with a 57–25 record, winning the Pacific Division and securing the 1st seed in the Western Conference.
In the playoffs, Golden State defeated the Clippers in six games in the first round, despite blowing leads at home in Games 2 and 5. Cousins tore his left quadriceps in Game 2, and was initially thought to be out for the remainder of the postseason. With an increased urgency and in a sign of respect towards their opponent, Kerr opened the following round against the Houston Rockets by moving Andre Iguodala from the bench and starting the Hamptons Five for the first time in the season. With the Splash Brothers—Warriors guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson—struggling with their shooting, Durant had been the team's best player in the playoffs, averaging a team-leading 35.4 points entering Game 5. However, Durant left the game late in the third quarter after suffering a strained right calf; he was later ruled out indefinitely. Led by Curry and Thompson, Golden State pulled out Game 5 without Durant, and won the series in six games thanks to Stephen Curry's 33-point second half. In the Western Conference finals, Golden State swept the Portland Trail Blazers 4–0, with three of the wins including comebacks of 15 points or more. After starting nine consecutive games, Iguodala missed the deciding Game 4 with a sore left calf injury from Game 3. Curry averaged a series career-high 36.5 points, the highest average by a player in a four-game sweep in NBA history. This was Golden State's fifth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, and they were aiming to be the first since the Shaq and Kobe-led Los Angeles Lakers to win 3-peat titles. After losing the Finals to the Raptors, they became the second team not to earn a 3-peat, joining the Miami Heat who lost their quest in 2014 to the San Antonio Spurs, who ended their own seven-year title drought. They were the second team in NBA history to achieve the feat of appearing in at least five consecutive Finals, joining the Boston Celtics, who played in ten straight Finals (1957–1966).
Toronto Raptors
During the off-season, the Raptors fired coach Dwane Casey, who was named the 2018 NBA Coach of the Year weeks later, and replaced him with assistant coach Nick Nurse. They also traded DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Pöltl to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. The move stunned the All-Star DeRozan, who had become a fan favorite in his nine seasons in Toronto. It was a risky move for the Raptors and their president, Masai Ujiri, as Leonard was one year away from becoming a free agent, and he wanted to leave the Spurs after playing in just nine games in 2017–18 due to tendinopathy in his left quadriceps, however the 2014 NBA Finals MVP made it through the season healthy while being systematically rested for 22 games. During the season, Toronto also traded a package that included Jonas Valančiūnas to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for one of the league's elite post-defenders, Marc Gasol.
The Raptors lost Game 1 of the first round to the Orlando Magic, but then won the next four games in a row to win the series in five games. After trailing 2–1 against the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, they defeated them in seven games, with Leonard hitting the game-winner at the buzzer as the ball bounced four times on the rim before falling in, the first buzzer beater in a Game 7 in NBA playoff history. Toronto advanced to the Eastern Conference finals to face the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite trailing 2–0, the Raptors won the next four games to advance to the Finals in six games, as Leonard outplayed the Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, who won league MVP that season. This was their first trip to the NBA Finals in franchise history, breaking a 25-year drought for Toronto-based teams appearing in the championship round of any of the four major North American professional sports leagues since Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series.
Road to the Finals
Toronto Raptors (Eastern Conference champion) Golden State Warriors (Western Conference champion) 2nd seed in the East, 2nd best league recordRegular season 1st seed in the West, 3rd best league recordDefeated the 7th seeded Orlando Magic, 4–1First roundDefeated the 8th seeded Los Angeles Clippers, 4–2Defeated the 3rd seeded Philadelphia 76ers, 4–3Conference semifinalsDefeated the 4th seeded Houston Rockets, 4–2Defeated the 1st seeded Milwaukee Bucks, 4–2Conference finalsDefeated the 3rd seeded Portland Trail Blazers, 4–0
Regular season series The Raptors won the regular season series 2–0.
Series summary Winning team in bold. GameDateRoad teamResultHome teamGame 1 May 30 Golden State Warriors 109–118 (0–1) Toronto RaptorsGame 2 June 2 Golden State Warriors 109–104 (1–1) Toronto RaptorsGame 3 June 5 Toronto Raptors 123–109 (2–1) Golden State WarriorsGame 4 June 7 Toronto Raptors 105–92 (3–1) Golden State WarriorsGame 5 June 10 Golden State Warriors 106–105 (2–3) Toronto RaptorsGame 6 June 13 Toronto Raptors 114–110 (4–2) Golden State Warriors
Game summaries
Game 1
Pascal Siakam scored a playoff career-high 32 points on 14-of-17 shooting to lead Toronto to a 118–109 win over Golden State in the first-ever NBA Finals game played outside the United States. The Raptors had a 10-point lead at the half. Siakam, the NBA Most Improved Player that season, shot 6-for-6 in the third quarter to keep the Warriors at bay. Toronto maintained a double-digit lead for most of the fourth quarter, countering every rally by Golden State.
Leonard had 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists in his first NBA Finals game since he was named the Finals MVP in 2014. Gasol added 20 for the Raptors. Curry scored 34 and Thompson had 21 for Golden State, which had won Game 1 of the Finals in each of the last four years. Draymond Green had a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Cousins returned from a quadriceps injury to come off the bench in his first NBA Finals game. After missing Game 4 of the Western Conference finals with a left calf injury, Iguodala left near the end of this game after limping and favoring his right leg. Durant, the MVP of the last two NBA Finals, traveled with the team to Toronto, but remained sidelined. This was the only game in the entire series with the home team victorious.
Game 2
Thompson scored a team-high 25 points, and the Warriors outscored the Raptors 18–0 to start the second half before holding off a late Toronto rally to win 109–104. Thompson had 18 points in the first half to keep Golden State in the game. They trailed by 11 with almost two minutes left until halftime before cutting it to 59–54 at the half. The Warriors' 18 unanswered points to begin the second half were the most in NBA Finals history to start a half. Thompson left the game in the fourth quarter with a left hamstring injury after landing awkwardly on a three-point field goal attempt. Toronto scored 10 straight points to pull within two points at 106–104, but Andre Iguodala cemented the win with a three-pointer with 5.9 seconds remaining in the game.
Curry finished the game with 23 points after missing his first six shots of the game. Cousins, who was moved into the starting lineup, had 11 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Draymond Green had 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to fall one assist short of his fourth straight triple-double. Warriors backup center Kevon Looney missed the second half with a chest contusion. Leonard led the Raptors with 34 points and 14 rebounds, and Fred VanVleet added 17 points. Game 1 star Siakam scored just 12 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Toronto was held to 37.2 percent shooting for the game.
Game 3
Leonard scored 30 points and the Raptors shot 52.4 percent and made 17 three-pointers to win 123–109 on the road over the short-handed Warriors. Curry scored a playoff career-high 47 points, shooting 14 for 31 including 6 of 14 on 3-pointers, while his teammates totaled 62 points on 36.7 percent shooting. Golden State played without injured starters Thompson and Durant, and backup big man Looney. Toronto's Kyle Lowry had 23 points and five 3-pointers, and Danny Green added 18 points on 6 made 3s, as all five of their starters scored in double figures. VanVleet contributed 11 points off the bench.
Thompson practiced earlier in the day but did not warm up for the game. Kerr had said that the Warriors were not going to play him if there was risk of further damage. Looney was out with a cartilage fracture near his right collarbone.
The game was not without controversy, however, when Warriors investor Mark Stevens pushed Kyle Lowry while attempting to dive for a loose ball, a gesture for which Stevens was banned from attending Warriors games for one year.
Game 4
Toronto took a 3–1 lead in the series after Leonard scored 36 points and had 12 rebounds in a 105–92 road win over Golden State. The Raptors struggled early, falling behind by 11 early in the contest and only scoring 17 points in the opening period, before trailing 46–42 at halftime. They outscored the Warriors 37–21 in the third quarter, when Leonard scored 17 of his points, and led by as many as 16 in the final quarter. Serge Ibaka scored 20 points for Toronto, shooting 9 for 12 in 22 minutes off the bench. Thompson returned from injury to lead Golden State with 28 points, including six 3-pointers.