the usa today ran this headline after the toronto raptors won their first nba championship by defeating the golden state warriors in game 6 of the 2019 nba finals…

Raptors deserve celebration, but Warriors’ injuries denied NBA fans classic Finals

means the celebration is merited, the raptors it. is physical damage to the body. means the warriors injuries didn’t allow it.

kawhi leonard, mvp of the 2019 nba finals, holds the championship trophy after the raptors’ win the title (ap)

🏀richyrocks english on youtube

the article, written by dan wolken, like this

the nba finals turned into a war of attrition, and [the raptors] were the team left standing after six games.

turn into means become. a war of attrition is won by gradually destroying the opponents resources. left standing means still on their feet, they survived.

david banner turning into the hulk

wolken expresses disappointment and empathy for the warriors condition.

even if you wanted the warriors to lose, even if you were rooting for their dynasty to end, there was no joy or justice in this.

root means cheer for, support. dynasty refers to the warriors winning 3 of the last 4 nba titles before this season and playing in 5 consecutive nba finals. is extreme happiness. even if emphasizes that fans rooting for the warriors to lose couldn’t really enjoy winning this way.

fans rooting for the golden state warriors during the 2019 nba finals

because of the devastating injuries that golden state suffered, the article is full of hypothetical examples in the past (past modals) that imagine alternatives to what actually happened.

• but outside of canada, where they will rightfully celebrate this as one of the greatest sports moments in a nation’s history, this has to go down as one of the saddest finals we’ve ever seen. because of what it could have been. because of the cost to ligaments and tendons that left us cringing at the sight of kevin durant grabbing at his achilles on monday night and klay thompson holding his knee on thursday.

could have been is a past modal. the nba finals this season didn’t reach its full potential because of the injuries to kevin durant and klay thompson. rightfully means it’s correct and justified that raptors fans and canadians in general celebrate this championship. go down refers to how this event will be remembered in history.

cringe can also describe an embarrassed reaction to awkward actions by other people, or to the awkward actions themselves

is a facial and bodily reaction to the unfortunate, ugly injuries that kevin durant and klay thompson suffered. grab and hold both refer to taking something with the hand. grab indicates more force than hold.

kevin durant talks to klay thompson while holding his injured right heel during game 5 of the 2019 nba finals (gregory shamus/getty)

• it says a lot about the grit golden state has that it made the raptors sweat this out until the last possible second, long after the series should have been over.

should have been over is another past modal. it means the raptors took longer/ more than expected to defeat the warriors. grit is strong character. sweat out means worry about. in fact the raptors didn’t sweat it out till the last possible second. the series could have gone (past modal😺) to the final seconds of game 7. but it didn’t.

raptors fans watching game 6 of the 2019 nba finals sweating it out (ernest doroszuk/toronto sun/postmedia)

• they didn’t go and grab it as much as they held on by cuticles as the warriors physically fell apart. it shouldn’t have been so hard, but it was, owing all to toronto’s own demons in closing out its first title and the ever-present threat of stephen curry having just enough juice to do this all by himself.

shouldn’t have been so hard is a past modal. wolken’s opinion is that it was more difficult than expected for the raptors to win the series. held on by cuticles demonstrates that the raptors didn’t have strong control of the moment. held is the irregular past tense of hold. fall apart means collapse, disintegrate. fell is the irregular past tense of fall.

tacos, especially the crunchy gringo kind, often fall apart when u take a bite

owing to means because of. ever-present means always there. threat is imminent danger. juice here means energy or power. fortunately for the raptors, curry didn’t have enough juice when he shot a three pointer with 7 seconds left in game 6. if he would have made it, the warriors would have taken the lead. (would have taken is third conditional. read more about 3rd conditional below 👇🏼). wolken’s opinion on the missed shot is…

• it probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the series had it gone in. but it sure would have given the raptors a lot to think about for the next 72 hours.

if curry would have made his last shot at the end of game 6…woulda, shoulda, coulda (frank gunn, associated press)

wolken’s idea is expressed in third conditional.  had it gone in is the structure and expresses the hypothetical possibility of curry making the three pointer he took at the end of game 6.

wouldn’t have changed and would have given are hypothetical results–the raptors not losing the championship in a hypothetical game 7 and 72 hours of nervous anticipation of the hypothetical game 7 for the raptors. as the structure here is not standard (there is not an if clause with the past perfect)  this is a tricky example of 3rd conditional.

outcome means result. 72 hours refers to the 3 days that would have passed  between game 6 and 7 if curry had made the shot (third conditional again).

• if there’d been a game 7 with a healthy thompson and momentum and the raptors starting to lose some belief, this was destined to be the coin flip of all coin flips. it could have been a classic.

more third conditional! there’d is a contraction of there had.  if there’d been is another example of past perfect  expressing a hypothetical possibility, this time as part of an if clause.  could have been is a hypothetical outcome 👉🏼with a game 7, this nba finals was going to be a classic, without it (what really happened) it was just interesting.  could have been is frequently used to  demonstrate regret, like this popular h.e.r./bryson tiller  track about a relationship that didn’t happen.

healthy means without injury. coin flip means it would have been difficult to predict who would have won a game 7 in this series, the odds would have been 50-50 (three final 2019 nba finals past modal examples🙀).

game 7 at the 2019 nba finals would have been a coin flip

are u an nba fan? what did u think of the 2019 nba finals? share your observations under leave a reply