“A lot of times you need some luck on your side, and we got a little lucky” – Danny Green admits Raptors knew they got an easy ring in 2019 after Warriors injuries originally appeared on Basketball Network.
The 2019 NBA Finals carried a different kind of weight. For the first time in nearly half a decade, the Golden State Warriors entered the championship series with visible cracks in their armor. A dynasty that had once seemed invincible was suddenly exposed, first by wear and tear and then by cruel timing.
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For the Toronto Raptors, the moment was historic. For the broader NBA, it was complicated.
Toronto’s six-game series win over the Warriors delivered the franchise its first championship in history. It also capped off an improbable journey, powered by Kawhi Leonard’s brilliance, Kyle Lowry’s resilience and a roster that understood its moment.
Having luck
Danny Green, a seasoned wing who had already tasted glory with the San Antonio Spurs, was one of the Raptors’ stabilizing forces. He brought perimeter defense, playoff pedigree and timely shooting. But even he won’t sugarcoat how the tides turned once Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson both fell to devastating injuries.
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“It was unfortunate that it happened in the Finals,” Green said. “And a lot of times you need some luck on your side, and we got a little lucky, but I still feel that if those guys were healthy, we would love to take on the challenge.”
Durant, returning prematurely from a calf injury, tore his Achilles in Game 5. Thompson, who had been lighting up Toronto from deep, tore his ACL in Game 6. By then, the Warriors were a shell of their former selves, left with a hanging Stephen Curry and a cast of role players struggling to match the Raptors’ depth and cohesion.
The 2018-2019 Warriors earned their fifth straight Finals appearance, carrying three NBA championships and the most potent scoring trio in league history. Before injuries struck, Golden State had gone 31-1 in playoff games where Durant, Curry and Thompson all played together.
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Toronto, on the other hand, had never even made it to the Finals before. It shows the delicate balance between triumph and circumstance. His words don’t diminish the Raptors’ title but sharpen the understanding of how championships often require more than skill.
Health, timing and luck, all play a role.
Raptor’s success
Toronto’s own playoff run was already benefiting from strategic breaks. In the second round, they faced an injury-riddled Philadelphia 76ers team, eked past them on Leonard’s iconic buzzer-beater, and caught a Milwaukee Bucks team in the conference finals, still learning how to win when it mattered most.
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But nothing swung momentum like the Warriors losing two All-NBA talents at the peak of the series.
“We were a pretty good team and it would have been a fun matchup and we had a possibility,” Green said of facing the Warriors. “But as good as those guys are, it would’ve been really hard to win that series with them all healthy.”
Green played crucial minutes in that Finals, knocking down 3-pointers and defending the perimeter while Leonard did the heavy lifting. The Raptors were sound — they finished the regular season with a 58-24 record, the second-best in the league and boasted a top-five defensive rating. Their versatility, especially on defense, matched up well against most teams. But even that wasn’t going to be enough to stop a fully armed Golden State.
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Durant averaged 32.3 points on 51 percent shooting in the playoffs before his injury. Thompson, meanwhile, was shooting 49 percent from three in the Finals before he went down. There’s little doubt the Raptors would’ve faced a far steeper uphill climb if the Warriors’ core had remained intact.
Still, Green’s take adds an important layer to how history remembers that championship. What Toronto did was remarkable. But it was also uniquely timed, as were many titles in NBA history. And timing, especially in the playoffs, is everything.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 21, 2025, where it first appeared.