By: Michael Borys
Staff Writer
The NBA finals are finally here. The Golden State Warriors have made their 5 straight appearance to the finals. The Toronto Raptors have made their first finals appearance in history. Led by newcomer Kawhi Leonard who was traded from the Spurs before the season. The raptors had a great regular season finishing in second place. Raptors finished with 58 wins. The Milwaukee Bucks finished in first with 60 wins. Raptors just eliminated the Bucks 4-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
On the other hand, the Warriors finished with 57 wins and first place in the western conference. Throughout the season, the Warriors had 5 all stars containing Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Demarcus Cousins. Cousins was sidelined with an injury for a majority of the season, and re-injured himself before the playoffs. During the western conference finals Kevin Durant suffered a calf injury and has been out since. The Warriors are hoping for Durant to be back due to his unbelievable scoring ability. Even though Klay and Steph also have the scoring ability, they need all they can get when facing the very strong defensive Raptors.
The Warriors have the upper hand due to experience. Warriors have been 5 straight when the Raptors are just getting to their first NBA finals in team history. Raptors leader Kawhi Leonard has made the finals before when he was with the San Antonio Spurs. In 2014, a young Leonard defeated the Miami Heat dynasty. The Heat had Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. Kawhi beat the stacked lineup at just 22 years old and won the finals MVP. Even though the Warriors have the upper hand in experience, the Raptors are hungry for their first NBA Championship.
