2019 NBA Finals

Team Coach Wins Toronto Raptors Nick Nurse 4 Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr 2
Dates	May 30 – June 13
MVP	Kawhi Leonard (Toronto Raptors)
Eastern finals	Raptors defeatedBucks, 4–2
Western finals	Warriors defeatedTrail Blazers, 4–0
← 2018 NBA Finals 2020 →

The2019 NBA Finals was thechampionship series of theNational Basketball Association's (NBA)2018–19 season and conclusion of theseason's playoffs. In thebest-of-seven playoff series, theEastern Conference championToronto Raptors defeated the two-timedefending NBA champion andWestern Conference championGolden State Warriors in six games to win their firstNBA championship as well as the first win by an NBA team based outside the United States.Kawhi Leonard was named theNBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the second time in his career, becoming the first player to be named the Finals MVP while playing for both conferences.^[1] The series began on May 30 and ended on June 13. This was the first NBA Finals appearance for the Raptors, and the league's first finals with games played outside of the United States.^[2]

The Raptors finished the regular season with a 58–24 record, the second-best in the league and in the Eastern Conference. The Warriors had a 57–25 record, finishing the regular season with the best record in the Western Conference and third-best overall. with ambitions to become the first team in NBA history since theLos Angeles Lakers (2000 to2002 to achieve athree-peat, having previously won in2017 and2018 NBA Finals. It marked the first time since2015 that the Warriors opened the series on the road.^[3][4] This was also the first Finals since2010 not to featureLeBron James, who played in the past eight Finals with theCleveland Cavaliers and theMiami Heat.^[5]

The Raptors opened the series with a dominant Game 1 victory. After the Warriors tied the series in Game 2, the Raptors won the next two games on the road to move on the verge of an NBA championship. Back in Toronto,Kevin Durant returned after several absences in the playoffs, only to tear hisAchilles tendon in a close game. Nonetheless, the Warriors held off a chance for the Raptors to win the title at home, sending the series to a Game 6 in theOracle Arena for the last time. There,Klay Thompson would suffer anACL tear, and the Raptors went on to win in another close game. This is the most recent Finals featuring the defending champions.

During the off-season, Golden State acquiredDeMarcus Cousins, who was recovering from aruptured left Achilles. He gave the Warriors a true, top-flightcenter for the first time under head coachSteve Kerr.^[6][7] During an overtime loss to theLos Angeles Clippers in November 2018,Draymond Green cursed out teammateKevin Durant over his upcomingfree agency status after the season, and he was suspended for the much-publicized blowup.^[8][9][10] In January 2019, Cousins returned, and the Warriors became the first team in 42 years with a starting lineup of fiveNBA All-Stars from the previous season.^[6] The team finished the regular season with a 57–25 record, winning thePacific Division and securing the 1st seed in the Western Conference.^[11]

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.^[10] Cousins tore his leftquadriceps in Game 2, and was initially thought to be out for the remainder of the postseason.^[12] With an increased urgency and in a sign of respect towards their opponent, Kerr opened the following round against theHouston Rockets by movingAndre Iguodala from thebench andstarting theHamptons Five for the first time in the season.^[13][14] With theSplash Brothers—Warriors guardsStephen Curry andKlay 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.^[15] However, Durant left the game late in the third quarter after suffering a strained right calf;^[15][16] 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.^[16][17] In the Western Conference finals, Golden State swept thePortland Trail Blazers 4–0, with three of the wins including comebacks of 15 points or more.^[18][19] After starting nine consecutive games,^[3] Iguodala missed the deciding Game 4 with a sore left calf injury from Game 3.^[19] Curry averaged a series career-high 36.5 points, the highest average by a player in a four-game sweep in NBA history.^[20] This was Golden State's fifth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, and they were aiming to be the first since theShaq and Kobe-ledLos Angeles Lakers to win3-peat titles. After losing the Finals to the Raptors, they became the second team not to earn a 3-peat, joining theMiami Heat who lost their quest in2014 to theSan 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 theBoston Celtics, who played in ten straight Finals (1957–1966).^[a]

During the off-season, the Raptors fired coachDwane Casey, who was named the 2018NBA Coach of the Year weeks later, and replaced him with assistant coachNick Nurse. They also tradedDeMar DeRozan andJakob Pöltl to theSan Antonio Spurs in exchange forKawhi Leonard andDanny Green.^[10] The move stunned the All-Star DeRozan, who had become a fan favorite in his nine seasons in Toronto.^[21][22] It was a risky move for the Raptors and their president,Masai Ujiri, as Leonard was one year away from becoming afree agent,^[21] and he wanted to leave the Spurs after playing in just nine games in2017–18 due totendinopathy in his leftquadriceps,^[10][22] however the 2014NBA Finals MVP made it through the season healthy while being systematically rested for 22 games.^[10][22] During the season, Toronto also traded a package that includedJonas Valančiūnas to theMemphis Grizzlies in exchange for one of the league's elite post-defenders,Marc Gasol.^[10]

The Raptors lost Game 1 of the first round to theOrlando Magic, but then won the next four games in a row to win the series in five games. After trailing 2–1 against thePhiladelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals,^[23] they defeated them in seven games, with Leonard hitting thegame-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.^[22] Toronto advanced to the Eastern Conference finals to face theMilwaukee Bucks. Despite trailing 2–0, the Raptors won the next four games to advance to the Finals in six games,^[21] as Leonard outplayed the Bucks'Giannis Antetokounmpo, who won league MVP that season.^[22] This was their first trip to the NBA Finals in franchise history,^[24] breaking a 25-year drought for teams from Toronto appearing in the championship round of any of the fourmajor North American professional sports leagues sinceMajor League Baseball'sToronto Blue Jays won the1993 World Series.^[25]

The Raptors won the regular season series 2–0.

Winning team inbold.

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, theNBA 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.^[26]

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 atriple-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.^[26] 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.^[27] Durant, the MVP of the last two NBA Finals, traveled with the team to Toronto, but remained sidelined.^[26] This was the only game in the entire series with the home team victorious.

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.^[28][29] 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.^[29] Thompson left the game in the fourth quarter with a lefthamstring injury after landing awkwardly on athree-point field goal attempt.^[28][29] Toronto scored 10 straight points to pull within two points at 106–104, butAndre Iguodala cemented the win with a three-pointer with 5.9 seconds remaining in the game.^[29]

Curry finished the game with 23 points after missing his first six shots of the game.^[28] 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.^[29] Warriors backup centerKevon Looney missed the second half with a chest contusion.^[28][29] Leonard led the Raptors with 34 points and 14 rebounds, andFred 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.^[28]

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,^[30] while his teammates totaled 62 points on 36.7 percent shooting.^[31] Golden State played without injured starters Thompson and Durant, and backup big man Looney. Toronto'sKyle Lowry had 23 points and five 3-pointers, andDanny 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.^[30]

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.^[30] Looney was out with a cartilage fracture near his right collarbone.^[30][32]

The game was not without controversy, however, when Warriors investorMark 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.

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.^[33] The Raptors struggled early, falling behind by 11 early in the contest and only scoring 17 points in the opening period,^[33] before trailing 46–42 at halftime.^[34] 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.^[34]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.^[33]

Siakam added 19 points for the Raptors.^[33] VanVleet needed seven stitches in the fourth quarter after the Warriors'Shaun Livingston inadvertently elbowed him in the face.^[34] The only other player to score over 10 points for Golden State, Curry, had 27 points, but shot just 9 for 22 and missed 7 of his 9 three-point attempts. Looney returned to score 10 points after Kerr initially declared him out for the series following his Game 2 injury.^[33][34]

Curry scored 31 points and Thompson had 26 to help the Warriors stave off elimination with a 106–105 win at Toronto. They combined for three straight 3-pointers after the Raptors led by six points with3+1⁄2 minutes left in the game.^[35] Durant returned after missing the previous nine games with his right calf injury,^[35] and scored 11 points in the first quarter.^[36] However, he was lost for the game two minutes into the second quarter when he tried to drive by Ibaka and suffered aruptured Achilles tendon, falling and grabbing his lower right calf. He limped off the court and was helped to the locker room.^[36][37] Leonard scored 10 straight points in the fourth quarter to erase Golden State's 14-point lead.^[35] Lowry's potential championship-winning, 3-point shot at the buzzer fell short after it was partially blocked by Draymond Green.^[35][38]

Golden State made 20 three-pointers, the second most in NBA Finals history behind Cleveland's 24 against the Warriors in Game 4 in2017.^[36] Cousins, who did not enter the game until Durant's injury, had 14 points and six rebounds for the Warriors, and Green added 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.^[36] Leonard had 26 points for the Raptors, while Lowry added 18 and Gasol 17 to lead six Raptors in double figures.^[38] Golden State played most of the second half without Looney, who aggravated his cartilage fracture after colliding with Lowry while battling for a rebound.^[36][39]

Durant left the arena on crutches and in awalking boot. "I don't believe there's anybody to blame [for Durant's injury], but I understand in this world, and if you have to, you can blame me," saidBob Myers, the Warriors' president of basketball operations.^[36] Durant underwent surgery to repair the tendon and was at risk of missing all of the following season.^[37] Originally expected to become a free agent after the 2018–19 season, he had a $31.5 million option to remain with Golden State for another season,^[40] but it was ultimately his last appearance with the Warriors, after a sign-and-trade to the Nets the following month.^[41]

Nurse was criticized for calling a timeout with Toronto up 103–97 after going on a 12–2 run; theSplash Brothers' three 3-pointers came after the break.^[42][43] In itsLast Two Minutes report, the NBA stated that Cousins should have been called for a shooting foul on Gasol with 49 seconds left in the game, which would have given Gasol two free throws with the Raptors trailing 106–103 at the time.^[44][45][46]

External videos
Full game broadcast by ABC onYouTube

Leonard scored 22 points and had six rebounds and was named theNBA Finals MVP after Toronto won 114–110 over Golden State to claim its first championship in franchise history. Thompson scored a game-high 30 points for the Warriors, but was lost for the game with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter after landing awkwardly and suffering atorn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee on a drive to the basket contested by Danny Green. With the Raptors leading 111–110, the Warriors managed to force a turnover with 9.6 seconds left in the game, but Curry missed a three-pointer that would have forced a Game 7. Trying to secure the ball after the miss, Iguodala called a timeout, but the Warriors did not have any left, and were assessed atechnical foul. It was academic, as time would have otherwise expired had they not attempted to stop the clock. Leonard was awarded three free throws to seal the Raptors' first-ever NBA championship title.^[47]

Lowry and Siakam led Toronto with 26 points each. Lowry scored 11 of his points in the first two-plus minutes of the contest. Van Vleet finished with 22 points, including 12 in the final period, and made five of the team's 13 three-pointers. Siakam added 10 rebounds. Curry had 21 points for Golden State, but he was hounded by the Raptors in the fourth quarter without Durant or Thompson available. Draymond Green had a triple-double with 11 points, 19 rebounds and 13 assists, but committed eight turnovers. Iguodala had 22 points despite shooting only 1 of 5 on free throws.^[47]

Leonard averaged 28.5 points per game in the series,^[48] and joinedKareem Abdul-Jabbar andLeBron James as the only players to be named Finals MVP with two different teams. Toronto was the first Canadian team to win the NBA title and the first non-American team to win any of theBig Four North American sports titles since theToronto Blue Jays ofMajor League Baseball won theWorld Series in October of1993.^[49] This was the Warriors' last game ever atOracle Arena, as they moved to the newChase Center acrossthe bay inSan Francisco at the beginning of the2019–20 season. They finished 0–3 at home in the series.^[47] The road team won the last five games of the series, the longest string of road wins in one Finals.^[50]

Moments after the game's conclusion, Raptors executiveMasai Ujiri was barred by anAlameda County Sheriff deputy from walking onto the floor for the team's trophy presentation, leading to an altercation between the two men.^[51]

Body camera footage eventually released to the public revealed that Dep. Alan Strickland had shoved Ujiri twice in the chest after the executive had tried to access the court, prompting Ujiri to shove him back.^[52] The two men appeared to stare each other down for several seconds before the Raptors'Kyle Lowry arrived, embracing Ujiri and escorting him onto the floor for the celebration.^[53]

While the footage does not display Ujiri wearing the credentials that would have allowed him to walk onto the floor, he is heard identifying himself as "president of the Raptors" while holding up the credentials he did have.^[54][55]

Following the incident, Sheriff Greg Ahearn said he would recommend battery charges against Ujiri. However, after privately meeting with Ujiri and his lawyers, representatives from the county District Attorney's office announced there would be no criminal charges filed against him.^[56]

Strickland separately sued Ujiri for $75,000, claiming to have suffered a concussion during the altercation.^[57][58] Ujiri countersued, and the two men later dropped their filings.^[59]

Golden State Warriors

Toronto Raptors

• Bold: team high
• Source:^[60]

As part of a multiyear partnership that began in 2018, the internet television serviceYouTube TV was thepresenting sponsor of the series,^[61] even in Canada despite its lack of legal availability there at the time, which was officially named theNBA Finals 2019 presented by YouTube TV.^[62]

In the United States, the Finals was televised byABC in English (including local stationKGO-TV in San Francisco) andESPN Deportes inSpanish. Play-by-play commentatorMike Breen, and analystsMark Jackson andJeff Van Gundy called the series on ABC, whileÁlvaro Martín (play-by-play) and Carlos Morales (analyst) were on ESPN Deportes.^[63] This was alsoDoris Burke's last year in the NBA Finals as sideline reporter on TV; a year later, she transitioned to calling the series as an analyst on theESPN Radio.^[64]

In Canada, the Raptors' and the NBA's main local rightsholders,Sportsnet (which aired games 1, 3, and 5, and would have aired game 7) andTSN (games 2, 4, and 6) aired separate, local telecasts with the Raptors' commentary team ofMatt Devlin on play-by-play, andLeo Rautins (Sportsnet) orJack Armstrong (TSN) as analysts. TSN sister broadcast television networkCTV 2 aired simulcasts of ABC's feed for games 2 and 4 in order to enforcesimultaneous substitution rights on ABC stations carried on pay television,^[65] while game 6 was simulcast onCTV.^[66] Sportsnet's sister broadcast networkCitytv similarly simulcast games 3 and 5.^[67]RDS broadcast all six games inFrench.

As the NBA's sole Canadian franchise, the Raptors' parent companyMaple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (which is, in turn, majority owned between a partnership of Sportsnet and TSN's respective owners,Rogers Communications andBCE Inc.) manages the league's national media rights in Canada.^[68] The series technically marked the first time that a team's regional broadcaster has produced its own coverage of games during the NBA Finals; these local broadcasts had access to ABC's camera feeds, along with additional cameras that were part of its own production resources.^[69]

In Canada, Game 1 recorded an average of 3.3 million viewers on Sportsnet, making it the highest-rated NBA game in Canadian history.^[70] By contrast, with 10.77 million U.S. viewers, Game 1 was the second lowest-rated NBA Finals game in the U.S. after the2020 NBA Finals.^[71] Analysts cited both the presence of a Canadian team (Canadian viewership does not count towards U.S. Nielsen ratings, leading to only one U.S. home market being reflected in viewership, being theSan Francisco Bay Area market), and being the first NBA Finals not to feature a team withLeBron James since2011, as factors in the drop.^[72][73] In the Warriors' home market, ratings were also lower in comparison to its past Game 1 appearances.^[74]

The Canadian record would be surpassed by Game 2, with an average of 4.3 million across TSN, the French-language broadcast on RDS, and CTV2's simulcast of ABC's broadcast, and an estimate that the game was seen at any point by at least 10 million viewers. The game also had a 68 percent ratings share in theToronto–Hamilton market. Game 3 was seen by 3.8 million viewers across Sportsnet and Citytv.^[75][76] The downward trend of U.S. viewership continued on Game 4, with a 9.8 share for the Friday-night game (a 12.5 percent year-over-year decline over Game 4 in 2018).^[77][78] TSN reported average viewership of 4.631 million, surpassing Canadian NBA viewership records for the third time in the series.^[79]

U.S. Game 5 viewership was 37% higher over Game 4, at 18.22 million, while Sportsnet reported an average of 6.4 million viewers across Sportsnet and the Citytv simulcast of ABC coverage—surpassing the series finale ofThe Big Bang Theory (4.33 million),Super Bowl LIII (4.34 million), and the91st Academy Awards (5.21 million)^[80] as themost-watched television broadcast of 2019 in Canada, and once again the most-watched NBA telecast in Canada. The NBA itself estimated 6.9 million viewers when accounting for the French-language feed on RDS and estimated viewership on out-of-market stations.^[81][82]

Game 6 further exceeded these numbers with an average of 7.7 million. TSN publicized that a total of 15.9 million unique viewers watched some point of the telecast, and 9.99 million were watching during the final minute. TSN also reported that Game 6 had an 82 percent share of viewers in the Toronto–Hamilton market—which it stated to be the highest in the region for a sports broadcast outside of theOlympic Games, summer or winter.^[83] Game 6's ratings in the United States were slightly higher over Game 5, with 18.34 million.^[84]

On June 17, the Raptors held a victory parade inDowntown Toronto, which began at thePrinces' Gates at the east end ofExhibition Place, traveled east alongLake Shore Boulevard West, north along York Street andUniversity Avenue, east alongQueen Street West, and finished atNathan Phillips Square next toToronto City Hall.^[91] The parade was attended by an estimated crowd of two million fans, making thisthe largest public gathering in one place for one event in Canadian history, peacetime or wartime. However, due to this overcrowding, the parade was delayed an additional three hours as numerous fans bypassed the barricades, blocking the parade route.^[92] In addition, excessive crowds delayed emergency services from attending to people in the crowd falling ill from heat exhaustion and dehydration, which resulted in the death of an infant.^[93] Later on, the parade was marred by shootings, which occurred during the victory speeches.^[94] The shootings wounded four people, though did not inflict life-threatening injuries, and caused a stampede.^[94] Three suspects were arrested and two guns were recovered.^[94] 2Toronto Transit Events Support buses along with a few bus shelters and police cars were destroyed.[1]

In the offseason,Kevin Durant left to join theBrooklyn Nets, but did not play until the2020–21 season due to the Achilles injury he suffered in the Finals. Meanwhile,Klay Thompson did not play for the next two seasons due to the ACL injury he suffered in the Finals, and an Achilles tear he suffered in the succeeding offseason.

Without Thompson andStephen Curry for most of thepandemic-shortened 2019–20 season, the Warriors finished with a conference-worst and league-worst 15–50 record, and did not qualify for theOrlando bubble in the summer. In the 72-game 2020–21 season, they finished eighth in the conference with 39 wins and qualified for theplay-in tournament, but lost to theLos Angeles Lakers and theMemphis Grizzlies in the first and second phases, respectively. However, with Thompson and Curry back and healthy, the Warriors finished the2021–22 season third in the conference with 53 wins, and eventually defeated theBoston Celtics in six games of the2022 NBA Finals, with Curry winning his firstNBA Finals MVP.

In the 2019 offseason,Kawhi Leonard signed with theLos Angeles Clippers after only one season in Toronto. Nevertheless, the Raptors still finished the 2019–20 season 53–19 and were invited to the Orlando bubble during the summer. However, they lost in seven games to theBoston Celtics in thesecond round of the playoffs. The following season, the Raptors were forced to play all of their home games atAmalie Arena inTampa due to Canadian travel restrictions brought on by the pandemic. The team finished the season out of the playoffs with 27 wins. However, in the 2021–22 season, the Raptors resumed playing home games in Toronto and ended with 48 wins; however, they lost in theopening round to thePhiladelphia 76ers. Toronto missed the playoffs for the next 3 seasons, finishing with a losing record in each year. In addition, withChris Boucher's departure to theBoston Celtics in the 2025 offseason, the 2018-19 Raptors are the most recent NBA champion to not have a championship player remaining on their team up to the 2025-26 NBA season. The Raptors would become the last team to win the NBA championship on their debut appearance until theDenver Nuggets in2023.

Kawhi Leonard's playoff run in 2019 is considered one of the best ever for a star player, averaging 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists across 24 games.

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