NBA Finals 2019: Can the Raptors Claw Out a Win?

[Jaime L]

1 minute ago, Relic said:

While. Cousins is indeed hobbled he's not a great basketball player solely for his scoring. He's a big man with great skill at doing a lot of valuable shit in the court, ergo his all star status. 

See this I actually agree with. He proved how skilled and multi faceted he was in game 2 even without any of his normal athleticism. 

My only point is that the Warriors took a big gamble bringing in Boogie because post-Achilles it wasn't clear at all he'd be remotely the same guy or even if he was the possibility of re-injury was so high. I'm sure a bunch of Brook Lopezesque sure things would've happily signed with them. And through game 1 of the Finals it looked like this gamble really didn't pay off and the Warriors were that much thinner as a result. But then game 2 happens and boom they get this skilled big man filling a vital role at a time they really needed it.

But we'll see. The Finals could well hinge on this coin flip gamble on Boogie. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Jaime L said:

That to me is the biggest question in game 3 - can the Warriors actually run their offense through a hobbled Cousins? 

IDK, I think the biggest question is can you name half the Warriors that will be playing tonight?  

[briantw]

3 hours ago, Jaime L said:

See this I actually agree with. He proved how skilled and multi faceted he was in game 2 even without any of his normal athleticism. 

My only point is that the Warriors took a big gamble bringing in Boogie because post-Achilles it wasn't clear at all he'd be remotely the same guy or even if he was the possibility of re-injury was so high. I'm sure a bunch of Brook Lopezesque sure things would've happily signed with them. And through game 1 of the Finals it looked like this gamble really didn't pay off and the Warriors were that much thinner as a result. But then game 2 happens and boom they get this skilled big man filling a vital role at a time they really needed it.

But we'll see. The Finals could well hinge on this coin flip gamble on Boogie. 

It wasn't a gamble at all.  They were the best team in the league by a mile and already had four all-stars and two MVPs.  They could have just not used the MLE at all and would have been the heavy favorites to threepeat.  If Cousins didn't work out, they could have just cut him and it wouldn't have impacted the Vegas odds at all.

[Jaime L]

5 minutes ago, briantw said:

It wasn't a gamble at all.  They were the best team in the league by a mile and already had four all-stars and two MVPs.  They could have just not used the MLE at all and would have been the heavy favorites to threepeat.  If Cousins didn't work out, they could have just cut him and it wouldn't have impacted the Vegas odds at all.

They were going to be the favorites no matter what. If you're a front office, you still need to maximize your chances every way possible. And if they didn't use their MLE or signed some useless guy (like a bunch of teams did) they're now down 0-2 in the Finals. This shit matters...even to the most loaded team in the league. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

53 minutes ago, Jaime L said:

They were going to be the favorites no matter what. If you're a front office, you still need to maximize your chances every way possible. And if they didn't use their MLE or signed some useless guy (like a bunch of teams did) they're now down 0-2 in the Finals. This shit matters...even to the most loaded team in the league. 

Complacency is the death of success. Not improving when there are avenues to do so is unforgivable for a front office.

[KingintheNorth4]

Klay is out for tonight. The Raps better make those open shots tonight.

[KingintheNorth4]

Indeed Curry is gonna put up numbers, but he's gonna need help on the offensive end.

[Jace, Extat]

Outside of late in the 2nd Golden State's defense has been fucking miserable. Green keeps getting freakish open looks from the corner.

[SkynJay]

Draymond frantically calling for a travel call when we are only a few plays away from Curry getting away with egregiously traveling after he stole it from Gasol is making me so happy right now.

But damn it I hope Klay is back next week, this sucks even if I am rooting for the Raptors a bit.

[KingintheNorth4]

The will to win shown by Steph Curry can't be questioned. They NEED Klay back next game. 

Danny Green turned the switch on at the right time. So did Kyle Lowry for that matter, dumb fouls be damned. 

[Jaime L]

39 minutes ago, Triskele said:

OK, Cousins did not improve, did not bring anything like game 2, and was virtually worthless.  Dray had a terrible game.  Iggy missed myriad open looks (coincidence that he got open looks?).  

This game will easily convince GS that they're dead without Klay back, so I think he plays in game 4 unless something's really fucked.  

And now there's urgency with Durant but that's still a black box, and I think it's still fair to speculate that it was a nasty injury and he's not even close.  Already declared out for game 4 if I'm not mistaken.  

All of this said, Lowry and Green were both on fire from outside tonight.  Toronto simply buried the looks they missed in game 2.  

Can we agree the Warriors are underdogs even with Klay? The Raptors are just a better, deeper team as long as Durant is out. Nothing has changed my impressions since game 1.

Steph put up a 47/8/7 and they still got blown out at home. Yeah the Raptors made the shots they missed in game 2, but there were a lot of wide open looks. Warriors need offensive help, defensive help...pretty much everything. The Raptors have 7 guys who can contribute on both ends of the floor and right now the Warriors have, what, 3? 

Knowing Klay, he'll play game 4 even if he's not totally ready. But not sure that'll be enough. And yeah who knows what's going on with Durant. They absolutely could be hiding the fact he's dealing with something serious..but the pressure will continue to grow for him to play. 

[Jaime L]

6 minutes ago, Triskele said:

I'd sure say that now given that it's 2-1 but would also say no panic until it's 3-1.  If Klay plays next game and GS ties it up things get extremely interesting.  And while I think Klay missing offense jumped out tonight never forget what a great defender he is.  

But if it does go to 3-1 it'll be over with 2 games remaining in Toronto and (I'm willing to bet) no Durant this series.  

You really let me down tonight, Boogie!

Yeah to me game 4 is do or die for the Warriors. If they're going to make a stand it's gonna be game 4 at home. This series so far feels awfully like the '04 Pistons running roughshod over a tired dynasty. 

[Rhom]

Saw a lot of Twitter commentary along the lines of “Now Steph knows what it was like to be LeBron with no help.” and such.  Dunno if that’s an Apples to Apples comparison, but it’s worth considering.

[DireWolfSpirit]

I could listen to Thandie screaming "Now kill the beast while its wounded", on autoloop for like hours. 

 

[Relic]

I wonder what the odds are of a Durant return for Game 4? I'm pretty confident the Warriors will win if he returns by game 4/5, but it would be oh so sweet if he never played in a GS uni again. 

[briantw]

1 hour ago, Relic said:

I wonder what the odds are of a Durant return for Game 4? I'm pretty confident the Warriors will win if he returns by game 4/5, but it would be oh so sweet if he never played in a GS uni again. 

I imagine he'd probably prefer to sit out the rest of the series, watch the Warriors lose, and leave saying, "See, they needed me."

Of course, that discounts all the other injuries, but that will be the narrative.

And hey, at least Golden State finally knows what it was like for half the teams they played the past four years.

[Fragile Bird]

Am I sensing not all Americans adore the GSW?

[Maithanet]

I liked GSW in 2015, they were fresh and exciting and built their team the right way.  But then they signed Durant (which from a team perspective was obviously the right call) and I had no choice but to hate them ever since.  Since Durant joined the team they've faced elimination in only one series in three years (last year vs Houston).  Just an embarrassment of riches. 

As for last night's game, I really thought that GSW underperformed defensively.  Iguodala and Green are both defensive studs, and most of the bench players have been brought in to be utility defensive guys (Bell and Bogut especially).  Going into this game I felt like GSW would double down on playing solid defense, and rely on Curry to score 50 to keep the offense going.  Curry did his part, and at times the defense looked great, but other times it fell apart.  I get that Toronto is a good team and expecting a bunch of bench players to lock them down is asking a lot, but given the degree to which Curry was carrying the offense, I expected everyone else to pick up some slack on the defensive end. 

As for who is "favored" at this point, it is really hard to say.  If we assume Durant isn't coming back, then yes, I'd favor the Raptors (slightly).  I'd favor them a lot more than slightly if I thought Leonard was fully healthy, but injuries have completely taken over this Finals. 

I fully expect Thompson to come back for game 4, and that will be a big game.  I don't know that I agree that it's a must win.  If Durant comes back close to healthy in game 5, then winning 3 straight is very much on the table.  For as hobbled as the Warriors looked in game 3, they could be back to their overabundance of talent very, very soon. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

This series is over. Even if both Klay and KD come back. What a sad way for a dynasty to end. I hope you haters are happy.

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Am I sensing not all Americans adore the GSW?

No. I saw a graphic that showed the entirety of North America, and only California and Nevada are rooting for the Warriors.

[Maithanet]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

This series is over. Even if both Klay and KD come back. What a sad way for a dynasty to end. I hope you haters are happy.

I have no idea why you'd say that.  The series is totally different if KD is back.  Nothing we have seen thus far has indicated the Raptors are ready for that.