The Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals at the Oracle Arena on Thursday, winning the series 4-2, claiming their first NBA Championship in franchise history and, for the first time, bringing the Larry O'Brien Trophy to non-U.S. soil.

Kawhi Leonard dropped 22 points, six rebounds and three assists. Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet scored 26, 26 and 22 points respectively to contribute to Toronto's success.

Leonard pocketed his second NBA Finals MVP after 2014.

Raptors are the better team of the series

Toronto held a bigger advantage than the general score could show over Golden State in the series. They were bigger in size and had better defense, healthier players and the most reliable superstar Leonard. Toronto also kept a more reasonable eight-player roster, which was long enough not to squeeze everyone and intense enough to send their best boys to the court.

Leonard was no doubt the shining star in the Finals as he could get 28.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and two steals on average. Despite his classic play style of preferring perimeter shots, Leonard filled his game with aggressiveness by earning 11.7 free throws per game. At least during his time on the court, he was leading the team both in offense and defense.

Multiple Raptors have proved themselves in the 2019 NBA Finals. Lowry, who had been criticized for under-performing in the playoffs, buried in total 14 3-pointers in the six games; Siakam gradually pulled himself from the panic he had been suffering from at the beginning of the playoffs and kept punishing the Warriors under the rim with his size, athleticism and surprisingly good finishing skills; Serge Ibaka, probably unexpected by everyone, became the second of the previous "Youth 4" of the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the title, sooner than both Russell Westbrook and James Harden; VanVleet who had been put onto the kill list of all Raptors fans somehow found his mojo from the birth of his son and kept raining 3-pointers on whoever he was playing against.

Toronto's journey to the championship was not immune from difficulties, but the team managed to learn from every setback. Having lost to the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the first round, Toronto realized that defense was their friend compared with offense; in the seven-game Eastern semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers, the team were convinced that Leonard must be their core in offense; in the series they knocked the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto collected enough confidence in themselves -- even the league's No.1 team could not beat them.

Raptors' president of basketball operations, Masai Ujiri, also deserved credit for their first championship. In 2018 summer, it was he who made the decision to send DeMar DeRozan, the city's hero in the previous four years, and Jakob Poeltl, a local favorite, to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. Sure, now everybody knows it's a great deal, but back then, the soap opera between Leonard and the Spurs hit the Internet every day. No one knew how much Leonard had recovered from the injury that almost cost him the entire season. Ujiri made a huge bet under great pressure, one that he won.

However, his sweetness may also last a lot shorter than others'. Ujiri will have much work to do in the following months, starting with persuading Leonard to stay. The 2019 Finals MVP had made it clear that he wanted to play in Los Angeles but never promised to stay in Toronto. Winning the championship may help change his mind but also may give him more reasons to leave because he does not owe Toronto anything. Besides, Danny Green will become a free agent in the summer, so should the team keep him? With what contract? Gasol has player option too, so will he opt out of his contract? He's already 34 years old; should Toronto keep him too?

Warriors fail to establish their dynasty

Golden State finished their last game at the Oracle Arena with great pity. There are multiple standards to decide whether a team have their dynasty in the NBA or not, but the strictest one is winning three titles in a row. By that standard, Golden State were just one step away from joining the club.

The 2019 Finals were miserable enough for the team. Before it had begun, Golden State already lost DeMarcus Cousins and Kevin Durant. What made things worse was that both returned in the finals, but while Cousins blew the possibility of him signing a big contract in the summer with his disappointing performance, Durant tore his right Achilles and, confirmed by coach Steve Kerr, will not play in the 2019-20 season. Nonetheless, in Game 6, Golden State's franchise was hit again as Klay Thompson suffered a torn ACL with his left knee.

Before the 2018-19 season had started, some joked that the NBA saw its "finale" because Golden State had five All-Star players (including two MVPs and top 2 3-point shooters in history) and one Finals MVP. Ironically, the team only had Stephen Curry, Draymond Green who was partly a liability in offense and 35-year-old Andre Iguodala to rely on.

However, today's failure always comes from what the Warriors have done in the past. Their past success was built on the absurdly cheap contracts of Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green. As Curry's 201-million-U.S.-dollar contract (and he deserves every dollar of it) began to take effect, the team lost their salary space to improve their franchise by introducing role players and thus had to watch their bench unit grow thinner.

The other major reason behind Golden State's failure was with their mindset. Having won three of the previous Finals enlarged the team's ego and reduced their hunger for victory. As a result, the team only won 57 games in the regular season, meaning that they had no home court advantage against either the Raptors or the Bucks.

Furthermore, from the regular season, Golden State's signature give-and-go playstyle decreased and started to rely on Durant's isolation in offense. Such situation continued to the playoffs. Sure it was exciting to watch Durant put down 30+ or 40+ points, but his time on the court kept growing too before KD was finally knocked down by injury that came from exhaustion. Since then, Golden State began a vicious circle: the fewer players they can rely on, the fewer they have to rely on, and then the fewer they have on the court.

The Warriors will face more difficulties both this and next summer. Both Durant and Thompson will become free agents soon, and it will take top-notch contracts to keep them. Furthermore, Kevon Looney will need a contract extension. He may not be a star, but he is definitely Warriors' best center in the playoffs. Draymond Green can wait, but only for another year when he will become a free agent as well. Even if the team's owner is willing to pay over 300 million U.S dollars (including both salaries and luxury tax), the Warriors will have little room to sign role players for franchise improvement.