I’ll put it this way: the Warriors need Durant to have a chance to win. And when Durant plays, the Warriors must win at majority of their games. In short, the Warriors must win the next two games, or they might be fucked.
Well it’s not exactly a revelatory idea that if the Warriors LOSE their next two games they’re fucked.
Were they to lose Game 2, and then go home and win Game 3 at home, I don’t see how they are fucked. They would then be in exactly the same position Toronto was in against Milwaukee, and where are the Bucks now? You are not in trouble until you lose at home. (ETA: The Raptors were actually in a worse position against Philadelphia because they were down 2-1 with Game 4 being in Philly. Nonetheless, the Sixers are arranging tee times with the Bucks.)
The Raptors are a much, much better team than anyone the Warriors faced up to this point but let’s not get carried away. The Warriors can absolutely come back from 1-0 or 2-1. If they fell behind 2-0 and then swept four games in a row no one would be all that surprised.
Liking the Jurassic Parks popping up all across Canada. There was one in TO suburb (or independent city or whatever the hell you call it) Mississauga with a turnout of 20,000.
Vancouver, Calgary, Tuktoyaktuk (NWT), Burlington, Brampton, Halifax have their versions.
Hopefully Montreal/Winnipeg/other places will drum up something.
I might even have two beer tonight.
The Raptors are going to regret this game all summer long. What a hideous shooting performance from the entire team.
Well, the defense of Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins, and Andre Iguodala had something to do with that.
The Raptors missed plenty of wide open 3s today.
No KD, Boogie still getting his groove back, Curry being absolutely cold from deep, and Thompson leaving halfway through the third? Definitely giving the Raptors a solid shot at this one. Now you’re gonna tell me they’ll be up 5 at the half and hold the Warriors to nothing for half the fourth?
And they still lose, the dagger being a wide open Iguodala (1-15 since Game 6 against Houston) 3 with five seconds left? I don’t know what to tell you.
I am getting a kick out of the TV announcers saying, when the Raptors get a three-pointer, “Got it! That one came from Moose Jaw,” or similar.
In spite of the Raptors’ loss tonight, I enjoyed the game. The margin of loss was not very big, and the Raptors showed that they could stay with the Warriors–that this series would not be a blowout, in other words. I would like to see the Raptors win, but I think it will be an exciting, edge-of-your-seat series from here on in.
Oh — good point. (I only got to see about half the game).
Well, the Raptors shot 37 percent. I mean, that’s the game. If you shoot 37 percent you’ll almost always lose; they simply didn’t handle the ball well. Literally no one actually shot well. The Warriors defended okay but gave up a lot of offensive rebounds; Toronto would have won had they shot even reasonably well.
Golden State returns to being a clear favourite, as they have home court advantage. If Toronto can split the two games in Oakland, they get a slight-favourite tag back. If GS sweeps the two game set they’ll be 95% favourites. It’s that simple. Playoff basketball is like tennis; it’s about holding serve and the Warriors are incredibly great at home.
Mississauga is its own city, not part of Toronto. It is, however, immediately adjacent to Toronto (to the west) and so in a human geographical sense it’s part of the Toronto sprawl.
It’s a very big city, with well over three quarters of a million people; I am pretty sure it’s the largest city in either Canada or the US that effectively serves as a suburb of a larger city. The center of the city is a huge mall, which should give you a flavor of what the city’s like.
I am sure there is a geopolitical reason for this, but Toronto’s suburban satellites are few in number and huge in population, as compared to U.S. cities, which tend to have a much, much larger number of small cities. In additional to Mississauga, Toronto is also orbited by Brampton, with over half a million people, Markham with over 350,000, Vaughan over 300,000, and a few around 200,000 like Oakville, Burlington, and Oshawa. By comparison it feels like Chicago or Boston are surrounded by a hundred little cities between 50 and 100 thousand people, if not smaller.
Getting bad vibes of the 2001 NBA Finals. The underdog Sixers getting an upset win over the heavily favored and hated Lakers in Game 1, people suddenly fancying Philadelphia’s chances, and then the Lakers easily reeling off four consecutive wins anyway to take the series 4-1.
The 2001 Sixers were a really weird team that kind of fluked their way into the Finals, and I’m not sure they are a great comparison to the 2019 Raptors. That said the Warriors certainly could win three more straight games.
I don’t think the 76ers “fluked” their way into the Finals; they were scrappy on offense and played pretty tenaciously on defense. Allen Iverson went off, as I recall. The problem is that at a time when half-court ball was the game, the Lakers dominated the half-court game.
I don’t see any comparisons between this series in 2001. A better comparison might be the 2016 Warriors vs Cavs, which the Cavs ultimately won but could have gone either way, really. Now if Durant comes back and can play effectively, then I think the Warriors have a clear edge. But it’s far from certain that this will happen. Without Durant, I think the series will likely go 7 games and either team could win.
More that the East was much weaker in 2001, and the Lakers just outclassed everyone, including a Spurs team with Duncan in his prime.
Sounds like Looney is out for the series now, with an injury I don’t think I’ve ever heard of before (“right upper body fracture of the first costal cartilage”). Maybe the Warriors can withstand all these injuries, but there has to come a point where it’s too much. This is now significant injuries to KD, Looney, Boogie, Klay, and Iggy.
That 2001 Lakers team was a beast. If we had a “Sweet 16” of the greatest NBA champs going at it March Madness style, I would not be shocked if they were the betting favorite to win it all.
I mean, now I want to know what that bracket would look like.
So I couldn’t resist. Proposed Sweet Sixteen, seedings by regular season record:
EAST
1995-96 Chicago Bulls (1) vs. 1988-89 Detroit Pistons (8)
1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers (2) vs. 1964-65 Boston Celtics (7)
1985-86 Boston Celtics (3) vs. 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers (6)
1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (4) vs. 2012-13 Miami Heat (5)
WEST
2015-16 Golden State Warriors (1) vs. 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers (8)
1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (2) vs. 2010-2011 Dallas Mavericks (7)
1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers (3) vs. 1993-94 Houston Rockets (6)
2013-2014 San Antonio Spurs (4) vs. 1986-87 Los Angeles Lakers (5)
In the East, I’m picking the '96 Bulls and '86 Celtics to take their respective matchups easily; the '13 Heat obviously obliterate the much slower Bucks and the '65 Celtics beat the '67 Sixers. East final is Jordan vs. LeBron, but more importantly Pippen vs. Wade and Rodman vs. Bosh. Bulls win.
In the west, all four initial favorites advance, but holy cow would I pay a lot of money to see the Spurs play the Showtime Lakers in a seven games series. The Shaqkobe Lakers edge their older selves, while the Warriors probably (though not certainly!) take down the Spurs. Good as the modern Warriors are, they have absolutely no answer for prime Shaq.
Sets up a final of 1999-2000 Lakers vs. 1995-96 Bulls. Jordan and Rodman harass Kobe into extinction, and the Bulls rotating gang of anonymous talentless giants foul Shaq about a hundred times in seven games. The entire series comes down to O’Neal’s foul shooting. Bulls win.
I heard he broke his collarbone but Wikipedia says that’s a very different thing.