Good writing by Michael Powell of the New York Times--which used to be a quasi-official house organ of the United States government, by the way:
Sometime during that third quarter, amid the whirling, sneaker-squeaking, pass, cut, shoot-from-anywhere California storm that descended on the Toronto Raptors, this thought occurred to me:
The Warriors are the vampire artistes, and that makes them more interesting than I anticipated.
One after another they fall injured and limp down the alley...
...
I confess that I had become bored with the Golden State story...They had the best point guard of this generation in Curry, and the best off-guard in Thompson, and the best defensive player...in...Draymond Green. In the seven-foot Kevin Durant they had the best player in this corner of the hoop-playing galaxy.
...
I was ready for a new narrative. The Raptors were a hard-working team from the great north that captured the imagination of this splendidly multicultural region along the north shore of Lake Ontario.
...
I was ready to watch the Raptors win and ready to hope that Kawhi Leonard...did not break Canadian hearts at season’s end and gallop off to Los Angeles or Brooklyn.
...
But the Warriors’ narrative has grown more interesting. Durant...badly strained his calf muscle and disappeared in an earlier playoff round. Other Warriors are nicked and bruised. And through it all the team has kept reimagining itself.
...
The Warriors are the foremost practitioners of America’s beautiful game, and when they are engaged their improvisation is riveting. But last night they reminded the Raptors that their game had a less-romantic aspect: swarming, muscular, clampdown defense of a sort that would have brought a smile to the face of Pat Riley and the bruising Knicks circa 1992.
...
...As the Raptors fly west, you just hope for their own sake that they pack hammers and wood stakes.
Sometime during that third quarter, amid the whirling, sneaker-squeaking, pass, cut, shoot-from-anywhere California storm that descended on the Toronto Raptors, this thought occurred to me:
The Warriors are the vampire artistes, and that makes them more interesting than I anticipated.
One after another they fall injured and limp down the alley...
...
I confess that I had become bored with the Golden State story...They had the best point guard of this generation in Curry, and the best off-guard in Thompson, and the best defensive player...in...Draymond Green. In the seven-foot Kevin Durant they had the best player in this corner of the hoop-playing galaxy.
...
I was ready for a new narrative. The Raptors were a hard-working team from the great north that captured the imagination of this splendidly multicultural region along the north shore of Lake Ontario.
...
I was ready to watch the Raptors win and ready to hope that Kawhi Leonard...did not break Canadian hearts at season’s end and gallop off to Los Angeles or Brooklyn.
...
But the Warriors’ narrative has grown more interesting. Durant...badly strained his calf muscle and disappeared in an earlier playoff round. Other Warriors are nicked and bruised. And through it all the team has kept reimagining itself.
...
The Warriors are the foremost practitioners of America’s beautiful game, and when they are engaged their improvisation is riveting. But last night they reminded the Raptors that their game had a less-romantic aspect: swarming, muscular, clampdown defense of a sort that would have brought a smile to the face of Pat Riley and the bruising Knicks circa 1992.
...
...As the Raptors fly west, you just hope for their own sake that they pack hammers and wood stakes.
