Forever
faithful towards me and You're always...ALWAYS providing for me! Great is Your mercy
towards me….Great is Your grace!!!
This
is Cee Jay, C-E-E-J-A-Y! and this is your Spiritual Sports Segment with a hip
hop twist, for The Playoffs in the NBA on ceejaysports.com as I Sprinkle a
Little Spiritually in YOUR Sports!!! Let’s Do This!!!
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| Pascal Siakim was force to be reckon with in Game 1 |
After
48 days we finally arrived at the first NBA Finals outside these United States last
night as the Toronto Raptors, the entire country of Canada and Drake battled
against the defending champion Golden State Warriors to see who will reach four
wins first and ascend to the top of the mountain! The Raptors historically have
not fared well in Game 1’s as they were 3 – 15 coming into the Finals but the
Warriors have as they were on a twelve game winning streak in Game 1’s and
since Kevin Durant went out and did not play last night, they were 5 – 0. The
Warriors put the first points on the board by way of a free throw by Steph
Curry and the 1st period was tightly contested, but with 8 points
from Marc Gasol, who finished with 20 points and 7 rebounds which gave the Raptors
the 4 point edge at the end of the 1st. Midway through the 2nd,
center DeMarcus Cousins, who tore his left his quad in the first round, came
off the bench to play in his first NBA Finals, finished with 3 points, 2 steals
and 2 assists after eight minutes of play, but the Raptors keep pressing to
outscore the Warriors 34 – 28 in the 2nd and take a 10 point lead
into the half 59 – 49.
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| Although "quiet", Kawhi Leonard had a nice all around game |
Coming out of the half, the Warriors started to gain a
little momentum as Curry had a decent game with 34 points and Draymond Green put
up his fifth triple-double of the playoffs of 10, 10 and 10, but the Warriors
had no answer for Pascal Siakim aka Spicey P, who netted 13 in the period to
finish with a career high of 32 basket filling points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists
as the Warriors cut the lead to 8 to end the 3rd. The Warriors Achilles
heel were their defense in transition and turnovers, which they committed 17
and the Raptors politely converted those TO’s into 17 points. Although the
Warriors bench outscored the Raptors bench 36 – 25, they weren’t able to capitalize
and get over the hump and despite a “pedestrian” night from Kawhi Leonard, who
netted 23 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, the Raptors didn’t dial the
pressure back in the 4th and outscored the Warriors by 2 and the
Raptors notched their first NBA Finals win with a 118 – 109 victory.
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| Mike D'Antoni is left scratching his head after ending contract negotiations |
For
your NBA Quick News & Notes, Mike D’Antoni, head coach of the Houston Rockets,
who has one year remaining on his contract, ended contract negotiations with
the club as they could not come to terms on an extension as the negotiations
centered on a performance based extension for the coach.
This
sports segment was sponsored by NIJAES, providing
