The Warriors are inevitable even in their darkest moments

The Golden State Warriors have looked outmatched by the Toronto Raptors for most of the NBA Finals. Kawhi Leonard’s been the series’ MVP with Pascal Siakam’s length, Fred VanVleet’s shooting, and Marc Gasol’s physicality playing supporting roles. That’s why Leonard’s 10-0 run in the final minutes of a close fourth quarter to take a six-point lead felt like the close to a hard-fought, but lopsided series.

But the Warriors, somehow, were still inevitable, even in their darkest moments. Golden State pulled out the 106-105 win to the shock of everyone.

When Durant went down in the second quarter with an Achilles injury, all signs pointed to Toronto finishing the series at home. The Warriors were without their back-pocket savior and were forced to stick with the group that couldn’t get it done three times before.

Yet here we are, days away from a Game 6.

The Splash Brothers were their full selves and catalysts of the late-game comeback on Monday night. They scored back-to-back-to-back triples to turn a six-point deficit into a lead with 58 seconds to play that held on until the bitter end.

Curry and Thompson combined for 57 points on 44 shots, making 12 of 27 threes. The Raptors as a team made just eight. The guts on Klay sinking this last one were admirable:

The rest of the Warriors team played a role, too. Before KD’s injury, he scored 11 points on five shots, Draymond Green scored 10 points with 10 rebounds and eight assists, and DeMarcus Cousins scored 14 points with six rebounds, too. The so-called Zombie Warriors, who saw five players play on through injury, somehow held it all together — on the road, in a potential closeout game.

In what may have been the first time we truly learned how special this dynasty was the Warriors climbed back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the OKC Thunder in 2016, then-led by Durant. That Western Conference Finals series saw Klay and Steph combine for 58 points in Game 5, 72 in Game 6 and and 57 in Game 7. It was then, too, that the Warriors looked dead until they weren’t.

And in the clutch for last year’s Western Conference Finals, the Warriors survived off 27 straight three-point misses by the Rockets in Game 7, and on 80 points combined by Durant, Curry and Thompson. An 11-point halftime deficit couldn’t knock them out either. The only true kryptonite for this Warriors dynasty so far has been LeBron James, who isn’t on the other side of the floor this time around. And it took him seven games.

Do Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors have enough to stave off the inevitable Splash Brothers heroics in Game 6, or worst-case, Game 7? It’s fair to be less confident now.

Even when the Warriors were at their worst — with five players playing through injury and Durant suffering a serious injury right before their eyes — they were inevitable after all in Game 5. In the final moments, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson came to life and the remainder of their injured colleagues breathed enough life into the franchise to crawl back to Oakland for another game.

Can Toronto deliver one final blow even more devastating than Kawhi’s attempt to bring the championship home on Monday? Or are the Warriors inevitable with The King nowhere to be found? You can never count out the Warriors’ old guard.