Toronto Raptors win NBA title with 114-110 win over Golden State Warriors

Victory in California clinches the series 4-2 for the Canadian franchise

Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard, center, shoots against the Golden State Warriors during the first half of Game 3 of basketball's NBA Finals in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, June 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Ezra Shaw, Pool)
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The Toronto Raptors have won their first NBA title after defeating defending champions the Golden State Warriors in a nail-biting end to game six.

The Raptors overcame the Warriors 114-110 to take the best-of-seven series 4-2, despite Golden State coming close to forcing a seventh game.

With the teams a point apart in the final second, Kawhi Leonard hooped three free throws to lift the Raptors clear.

Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry scored 26 each for Toronto, while Leonard and Fred VanVleet racked up 22 each.

Klay Thompson scored 30 for the Warriors, who were denied a seventh game which could have given them a seventh title.

Leonard was voted series MVP. The 27-year-old forward from Los Angeles, who first won the award in 2014 when he led San Antonio to the crown, joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players to win the award with two different franchises, the Spurs having traded Leonard to Toronto last July.

"I didn't come out in this series trying to win (the MVP award)," Leonard said. "It was a whole group collectively. I just kept striving and pushing and I ended up with the trophy but everybody deserves it."

It is hard to deny Leonard's heroics, notably his four-bounce buzzer beater in game seven to defeat Philadelphia in the second round.

His 732 points in this year's play-offs are the third-most in any play-off run, 16 fewer than LeBron James last year and 27 off Michael Jordan's 1992 record.

"I'm not trying to make headlines," Leonard said. "That's how I just keep growing up as a man. I just think about my past life and try to learn from situations and be wise and learn from others."