Pictured are Stephen Curry (wearing white jersey) of the Golden State Warriors and Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

By editor Kathy Wray Coleman

Coleman has covered NBA basketball and NFL football events here at Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com since 2013.

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio-In their first ever appearance in the NBA Finals, the Toronto Raptors beat the legendary Golden State Warriors Thursday night at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada, winning Game 1 118-109, a stunning win that came in the absence of Warriors' superstar Kevin Durant, who was lost to injury in the second round of the playoffs.

The finals series is the best of seven games.

Cleveland Cavaliers' fans can clap at the Warriors' loss last night, the six-time NBA champions, led by head coach Steve Kerr, winning over Cavs for the championship title last year, a four games sweep that brought tears to the eyes of some Cleveland fans.

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Last year's finals series was the fourth consecutive NBA Finals match up between the Warriors and the Cavs, who won the title only in 2016, and over the Warriors.

The Cavaliers trailed the entire Game 4 of last year's finals, and were down by an embarrassing 21 points at the end of the third quarter, Cleveland unable to overcome the greatness of Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant, and the talent of Drayvon Green, Klay Thompson, and Andre Iguodala, the quintet that helped to bring an NBA championship title for the Warriors against the Cavs in 2017.

But Green, Thompson, Iguodala and Curry could not pull it off Thursday night against the Raptors in Game 1 of this year's finals series, Durant's absence, no doubt felt, and the Raptors forcing 10 turnovers in the first half alone.

Curry finished with a game high 34 points, and Thompson got 21 points, the 'Splash Brothers' still unable to bring home a team win on Thursday.

Kawhi Leonard, in spite of  health issues and still the driving force of Toronto's playoffs offense, finished with 23 points last night, though he shot just 5-of-14 from the field.

The Cavs' losing at the NBA Finals last year, and problems leading up to the loss, shook up the franchise, LeBron James leaving for a second time via a  four-year $153.3 million contract deal with Los Angeles, and Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue later fired, his replacement, Larry Drew, now gone too.

"Thank you Northeast Ohio for an incredible four seasons," James said after signing a mega millions contract last year with Los Angeles, which, like Cleveland, did not make the playoffs this year. "This will always be home."

While Cleveland fans are not as enamored with James since he left the Cavs last year, his departure in 2018 was far less contentious than when he abruptly left Cleveland and  signed with Miami in 2010 and Cleveland fans burned his jersey in public.

An Akron, Ohio native, James won his first two championships while playing for the Heat, in 2012 and 2013.

He returned to Cleveland in 2014, leading the Cavaliers to the championship title in 2016.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA players of all time, James has "won three NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, three NBA Finals MVP Awards, three NBA All-Star Game MVP Awards, two Olympic gold medals, an NBA scoring title, and the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. James is a 14-time NBA All-Star, 11-time All-NBA first teamer, and five-time All-Defensive first teamer."

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS