2019 NBA Finals Game 5 Recap + Game 6 Prediction
Perhaps sports predictions aren’t my calling in life. I have been incorrect about the last three NBA Finals games. I could chalk that up to unpredictable variables like injuries, which have plagued this year’s ultimate series, but I’ll just own the fact that I may not be a basketball genius. That being said, my analysis has proven to be fairly accurate, so let’s do some more of that looking back at Monday night’s Game 5 before predicting tonight’s game 6.
What a bummer for all (except maybe not some questionable Toronto-based) NBA fans. Seeing any player go down with what looks to be like a severe injury, such as KD’s ruptured achilles, is heartbreaking. Injuries cast a cloud of doubts and “what-ifs” from sports analysts and fans alike. Watching the first quarter of Game 5 proved how truly dominant Golden State’s offense is when operating at full health, as they made their first five three-pointers and just seemed looser on both ends of the court. As soon as Durant fell again, the Warriors’ offense got tight and so did their lead. Although the splash brothers were able to make some clutch shots down the stretch to give the Warriors the push they needed late, the game was uncomfortably close. As home-court advantage has proven not to make much of a difference in this series, with the road team winning the last four games, it will be interesting to see how things go down tonight. If Nick Nurse manages his time carefully, the Raptors protect the basketball, and Kawhi stays as cold-blooded as he has been as of late, it’s possibly that the Raptors will close out the series tonight. I just can’t see that happening.
Tonight’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals is the last game that will ever be played at Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA. All of the Warriors players know the significance that this game has - to send off their legendary arena properly, to avenge KD, and to keep three-peat hopes alive. I said in my last post that the Warriors’ “backs-against-the-wall” mentality would eventually not get them to where they need to go, but Game 6 Klay may have something to say about that. I predict another nail-biting game that forces a must-see Game 7 on Sunday night, which I don’t even know how I will predict if it happens. Coin flipping may be a very real possibility.
Prediction: GSW 116, TOR 113