Yes, it’s pretty meaningless. I just thought it was interesting in a bar trivia sort of way, not that it was particularly predictive of anything that will happen in the finals.
I don’t think it is a safe bet, depending what you mean by “safe.” I was just pointing out how the point spread is consistent with a high likelihood of a Warriors series win.
It’s absolutely NOT predictive. I remember a few years ago an example from the N.H.L. when Pittsburgh took the season series from Boston (might’ve even swept the regular season series. I don’t remember, for sure) and then got SWEPT from the playoffs by the Bruins. It’s results like those that keep me from putting very much, if any, stock in regular season results when it comes to the playoffs.
I see that in attempting to counter what I posted that you conveniently left out the last part of my prior post. That is to say, the BULK of it.
Reassuring to hear Spearsy (ESPN’s Marc Spears - funky dude) saying that in practice Cousins looked winded running up and down the floor. Hope to see Gasol against him.
Durant looking doubtful for Sunday’s game two. Hoping Raps D can adjust when he does come back.
59-49 Raptors at the half.
Looking good; Raptors might actually pull this one off. But it would be an enormous psychological blow if they lose the lead. If they get a letdown and lose Game 1 like that, they’ll be deflated entering Game 2, and we’ll probably be looking at a Golden State sweep.
CRUSH THOSE WARRIORS
They did it!!! 118-109.
One down, three more to go.
The series will change instantly if Durant returns, but Toronto looked good tonight. I’ve got a fair bit of hope right now.
The Raptors looked good. It didn’t seem like the moment was too big for them at all. I’m still pretty doubtful that they can keep it up, but that sure was a good start.
RickJay > JohnT
[Moderating]
I’m not sure what that is about, asahi, but I have word that it’s somehow dragging a BBQ Pit issue onto the rest of the board. Don’t do that.
Amazing game, but after Sunday, I’m going to watch the games in the morning (can’t stay up til midnight watching exciting shit before bed)… Toronto needs to win Game 2 and try to steal one in GS… Can’t sleep on the champs.
What I saw in the game makes me think Toronto absolutely can keep it up. Minus Durant, the Warriors are back to the 2015 and 2016 version of the team, which is good when they can shoot the lights out. The Warriors have been pretty reliable at spreading the ball, creating a mismatch, and shooting from pretty much anywhere they want to on the court. They’ve been such a great shooting team that this style of play has worked out for them…most of the time.
But as we saw against Cleveland, when this version of the Warriors, minus Durant, plays against a team that is really good at penetrating, pushing the ball closer to the rim, rebounding, and also good enough from the perimeter that the Warriors have to defend it, then they’re not unbeatable. As I said earlier, the Raptors are probably the most complete team the Warriors have faced since Cleveland, and the last time they played a team like Cleveland without Kevin Durant, they lost in seven games.
What I saw last night leads me to believe the Warriors could be in some real trouble. Now it’s entirely possible that the Swoosh brothers come out and just crush it shooting the ball, but that’s only if Toronto’s defense slouches off, and I think the Raptors understand the value of playing their style of defense. They’re defensively a very quick team. They disrupt passing lanes and they don’t just let teams take shots uncontested. I would not be at all surprised to see Toronto go up 2-0
Awesome for Pascal Siakam, who’s a strong candidate for most improved player of the year, scoring his play-off high 32 points, the most in an NBA Finals debut since Kevin Durant went for 36 seven years ago. He’s had a challenging play-off run so far, getting defended mainly by Embiid and then Antetokounmpo.
The Raptors can keep up their style of play for sure, but I was more talking about some of their scoring. FVV probably won’t keep banking in wild shots, and Siakam isn’t going to go 14/17 every night. My original prediction was that the Raps would win game 1 and then lose the series in 5, so that’s still on, but I admit I’m wavering 
Fearless prediction: the Raptors will not lose any game in this series where Pascal Siakam scores 30+ points.
I don’t see anything to indicate that Toronto’s win last night was a fluke. Marc Gasol is really, really good at basketball; the downgrade from Gasol to Serge Ibaka was really dramatic. If Siakam is on his game like he was last night, I’d say the Toronto rotation is just flat out better than the Warriors rotation right now, even if (if) the Warriors have the best player on the court. Put Durant back in the lineup, even in a limited form, and it changes the calculus… but not enough for this to be a walkover. I’d still pick the Warriors, but I wouldn’t bet any money on it.
I’m not sure Durant’s presence alone would be enough, though. The Raptors would sniff out right away whether or not Durant is really ready go end to end for considerable minutes. The Raptors are different from the teams that the Warriors swept aside in the Western Conference. They’re going to play more half court ball, which is when the Warriors really need Durant, but he can’t be just a decoy. He will need to be productive.
What I would suggest is reasonably good news for the Warriors is that the primary statistical differences between the two teams were turnovers and shooting percentage, and they’d had ten days off. Being a little butterfingered with the ball is a predictable result of having too long a break.
They really, really could use Kevin Durant, though.
I would also suggest that the Raptors’ quickness had something to do with the Warriors turnovers and bad shooting. The Warriors didn’t look like they had the same advantage in terms of quickness that they’ve had against other teams. Perhaps some of that is due to rust and maybe the Warriors struggled to adjust to the pace of a real game after being off for so long.
Despite Curry getting 34 points, I like the fact that of the 29 times Van Vliet guarded him, one of the greatest shooters in the game amassed two points.
According to Chris Hayes, it’ll be game four at the earliest for Durant.
:):):):)