"We the North!" is now "We the Champs!" The Toronto Raptors captured Canada's first NBA championship—and the country's first major title in 26 years—with their most remarkable road win yet in the franchise's NBA Finals debut, outlasting the battered and depleted two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors 114-110 on Thursday night in a Game 6 for the ages. The thrilling back-and-forth game featured 18 lead changes, nine ties, and neither team going ahead by more than nine points, the AP reports. Stephen Curry missed a contested 3-pointer in the waning moments before Golden State called a timeout it didn't have, giving Kawhi Leonard a technical free throw with 0.9 seconds left to seal it.
Leonard, the NBA Finals MVP for a second time, then got behind Andre Iguodala for a layup as the buzzer sounded, but it went to review and the basket was called off before Leonard's two free throws. That only delayed the celebration for a moment. When it actually ended, the typically stoic Leonard could let it all out. A Canadian team stood on top of one of the traditional major sports leagues for the first time since the Toronto Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series. Hundreds of red-clad fans stayed long after the game ended to watch the Larry O'Brien trophy ceremony. They waved the Maple Leaf and sang "O Canada." It was the Warriors' final game at Oracle Arena, the place they called home for 47 years.
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