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If the NBA season were a scripted show and not, you know, a bunch of basketball games, we’d be talking about the Finals right now the way we talked about that disappointing and nonsensical final season of Game of Thrones. Where’s the continuity? After all that, how could they let it end like this?

Even with Kevin Durant and Demarcus Cousins battling injuries at the Finals’ outset, the Warriors looked unbeatable in their quest for a third straight championship. While they boasted a bit more charisma and a lot more life than the Night King’s army, they looked every bit as deep and as deadly. The Raptors were a great a lovable team of upstarts, like our Game of Thrones good guys, but like those good guys, they appeared doomed.

I don’t want to extend this metaphor any further, but understand that weird, taciturn hero Kawhi Leonard is definitely Bran here and Drake is 100% Euron Greyjoy. Don’t overthink any of it, for it doesn’t hold up at all. I’m regretting even drawing the comparison.

Just understand all it took to bring down the mighty Warriors: Durant, their leading scorer in the regular season, played all of 12 minutes in the Finals before rupturing his Achilles and enduring a surgery that could keep him out for much of next season. In Game 6, Klay Thompson — their third leading scorer in the regular season — went down with a third-quarter knee injury that turned out to be an ACL tear.

And still — still! — the Warriors had a chance to push the series to a seventh and final game with mere seconds remaining in Game 6, when they got the ball to Steph Curry with a relatively open look from the perimeter. Then Curry, a guy whose remarkable shooting range is widely credited with revolutionizing the way basketball is played, missed the shot that likely would’ve won the game for Golden State.

Fake! C’mon, that’s fake. And I recognize that Curry, for all that he seems automatic, still misses more than half his 3-point attempts and has a (probably overblown) history of missing clutch shots, but still. It’s Steph Freakin’ Curry, with a chance to play hero in the Warriors’ last ever game in Oakland, the clock ticking down, and a shot it feels like he always makes, and… clunk.

Draymond Green was able to keep the Warriors’ hopes alive momentarily by scrambling for the rebound and smartly calling a timeout they did not have, but it was not to be. All the Raptors needed to do was defy all logic and sneak past an entire zombie army to stab the Night King in the heart with a Valyrian steel dagger. Or something.

And that’s not to diminish the Raptors’ considerable efforts or excellent team or fine performance: Flags fly forever and they certainly earned theirs. It’s just to note that they essentially need a deus et machina to bring down the dynastic Warriors. Golden State endured an existential spate of injuries at exactly the wrong time, then Steph Curry missed a potential series-altering shot.

Congratulations to Drake, the Bon Jovi of rap.

Thursday’s big winner: Kawhi Leonard

Though it wasn’t quite unanimous, Leonard earned NBA Finals MVP honors for his incredible performance in the Raptors’ six-game series win. He then heartily celebrated the title, letting loose quite a bit more than he typically does in interview settings. Leonard’s second ring caps a remarkable star turn both on and off the court in what could be his final season with Toronto, as his weirdly taciturn persona and oddball trash talk proved nearly as entertaining as his ample basketball skills. Buckets, buckets.

Quick hits: Shaq, golf schedule, iced coffee

– I never tire of photos of NBA players making regular-sized people look tiny, but this one’s a fun twist: Shaquille O’Neal making an enormous person look regular sized. I met Shaq once a few years back and shook his hand, and my entire, reasonable-sized hand just disappeared into his tremendous Shaq mitt.

– Andy Nesbitt, master of the rescheduling take, celebrates the PGA for rearranging its tour schedule and getting it right while the NFL keeps stubbornly clinging to having the Super Bowl on Sundays. I’d like to see Andy’s position on whether MLB should have more Saturday day games. The answer is yes, of course. I’d also for Andy to get behind my idea that there should basically be at least one live baseball game on at all times between, say, 9 am ET and midnight PT. Perpetual baseball. Get it done.

– ALERT: Former NBA guard Nick Van Exel has discovered iced coffee and he is into it. I have tips, Nick Van Exel. I was spending so much money on iced coffee a few years ago that my wife got me a thing for making cold brew at home, and by now I’ve gotten pretty darn good at it. It’s super easy! You can and should experiment, but I find that I like medium-roast Central American coffees, especially Costa Rican Tarrazu, ground to the coarsest possible setting, brewed for 24 hours at room temperature. I use roughly a 2:1 water:coffee ratio to make concentrated cold brew, and sometimes I include a touch — but just a touch, maybe 1/2 cup out of 4 total cups of coffee — of vanilla or caramel flavored coffee to give it a little hint of sweetness. Come over any time, Nick Van Exel; I almost always have some ready, and anyone who played in the 1998 NBA All-Star Game is welcome to it.