2019 NBA Finals Thread, Part 1 | Golden State Warriors vs Toronto Raptors

[PizzaSteve]

Dray already in his head...

[Winsome Gerbil]

What's at stake for curry: he moves ahead of magic Johnson as the GOAT PG for prime

What's at stake for kawhi: he moves ahead of bird and become 2nd goat SF behind LeBron for prime and arguably 1st for peak

[Admiral-Kizaru]

Dray already in his head...

[Winsome Gerbil]

Without Durant I like the Raptors.

Their ability to switch on screens will limit Thompson and Curry.

Looks like Boogie's going to be back as the main screensetter. While you might limit Curry or Thompson by switching on a screen, if you end up with Danny Green or Kawhi guarding Boogie inside...

Its where having all the spare offensive stars becomes problematic. Normal teams have guys you can safely ignore/play games with.

[trickshot]

So Im just curious. Looking at the poll right now, there are more picks for Toronto to take the series than GS. So does that mean if GS wins we won't have to get thread after thread after thread about how much of a cakewalk it was for them and how they ruined the NBA because its obvious no one can compete with them? Or does that narrative come storming back if GS takes game 1?

Raptors have by far the largest fanbase on Realgm. They account for the majority of the voters. Unless we poll neutral opinion it's misleading. There's a reason why Vegas and other places are the opposite

[oaktownwarriors87]

If the Raptors win it all I will take solace in the fact that Patrick Mccaw has more rings than Kevin Durant.

[PizzaSteve]

If the Raptors win it all I will take solace in the fact that Patrick Mccaw has more rings than Kevin Durant.

Dude has possibly next leveled LBJ and KD. Where ever he signs, bet large.

[xdrta+]

Here is how I look at it. Without Durant (I don't think he'll be back at all) the sides look pretty even, and a lot of people pick the Warriors to win, they're heavy favorites in Vegas, in fact. Although they're not better without Durant, his absence allows others to fill the gap, more ball movement, etc. It seems quite reasonable that the Warriors can still win without Durant.

Now imagine the Raptors without Leonard. Would they have a chance against the Warriors, even without Durant? No. This tells me that all the happy talk about how good the Raptors' defense is and how much talent they have around Leonard is just empty talk. The Warriors may well win without Durant. The Raptors would never win without Leonard.

[Coco Costanza]

Dray already in his head...

[SFour]

I don't see KD playing anytime soon with the way he's limping and walking slowly

Read on Twitter

[Geddy]

To me it doesn't look like a limp, but more that carrying his bag is altering his steps a little

[RaptorPride]

Watch on YouTube

[Raps in 4]

I just see a snake slithering.

[SpreeS]

1. KD is limping...Its not good. He can miss whole Finals.
2. DC is negative and unplayable as starter for GSW in PO. 5-10 min per game with 2nd unit would be max for him in the Finals. I dont want that he take out our defense from bigs Bogut/Looney/Bell and offense from Curry/Klay/Green. I could see role for him like David Lee's in 2015 Finals.
3. If someone tells me that this team has
- the best PO player
- better defense
- better bench
- HCA
- good caoch
I would give 60- 65% that they will win this Finals....
4. But they will play against GSW w/o KD. The problem is here that noone knows where this team ceiling is. What do we know from previous years? Curry and co lost only 3 PO series and that were 6/7/7 games series with Kerr or Jackson, with Lee or Green as second options. If sameone tells here GSW will sweep TOR - its bull. Its 6/7 game series and 50%/50% on both side to win this Finals.

[sca]

Let's put it this way. If they both shot their playoff averages (or hell their career high 3pt %'s), the Raptors don't win (objectively, by the numbers). Van Vleet going absolutely nova was a massive series changer for them, and there is no shame in that. It was an extremely close series, and those things can often swing the pendulum one way or the other. Just like I think will be the case against the short-handed Warriors (assuming again no Durant, Cousins).

1) Green and Fred combined to shoot 39.2% on 8.5 attempts per game that series. In the regular season, they combined to shoot 42.4% on 10.0 attempts per game. So they actually combined to shoot worse this series than they did in the regular season.

2) This also ignores that Siakam shot 25.0% and Serge shot 10% from 3.


The best way to put it is that the Raps shot 37% from 3 that series, just like they did in the regular season.

Lol what am I dealing with right now? This will be my last response to this nonsense. That massive chasm/shift in the shooting from the first 3 games to the Final 3 games is precisely my point. When the role players shot like scrubs, they lost. When they delivered, they won. This is a very simple, benign comment to illustrate that this is ultimately what I believe to be a close Finals upcoming (very similar to Tor/Milwaukee). In a more lopsided series, you can get away with the stars of the better team dictating the outcome in double digit victories.

You made a factually wrong statement by saying that the Raptors would’ve lost if Green and VanVleet both shot at their league averages. Green and VanVleet were combined for 310-731 (.424) from 3 in the regular season. They were combined for 20-51 (.392) in the Conference Finals. But still, you said that they would’ve lost “objectively, by the numbers.” Why are you so outraged to see a reply disproving your factually wrong statement?

[mademan]

Without Durant I like the Raptors.

Their ability to switch on screens will limit Thompson and Curry.

Looks like Boogie's going to be back as the main screensetter. While you might limit Curry or Thompson by switching on a screen, if you end up with Danny Green or Kawhi guarding Boogie inside...

Its where having all the spare offensive stars becomes problematic. Normal teams have guys you can safely ignore/play games with.

I cant imagine Boogie's gonna be in good enough game shape to command enough actual minutes. I'd think he'd get destroyed in PnR's and that Kerr would rather have Looney out there. He's been giving them some good minutes this playoffs

[Mylie10]

I don't see KD playing anytime soon with the way he's limping and walking slowly

Read on Twitter

That's just how a Durantula walks

[nikster]

Without Durant I like the Raptors.

Their ability to switch on screens will limit Thompson and Curry.

Looks like Boogie's going to be back as the main screensetter. While you might limit Curry or Thompson by switching on a screen, if you end up with Danny Green or Kawhi guarding Boogie inside...

Its where having all the spare offensive stars becomes problematic. Normal teams have guys you can safely ignore/play games with.

I’d be happy with Warriors forcing it into boogie all series. Beats curry and Klay open shots

[cjx]

2019 Finals

Game 4 Prediction
Golden State 107, Toronto 102 (Series tied 2-2)

King Kawhi the Sensational KLaw: 23 pts, 8 rebs, 4 asts, 1 stl, 1 blk (33.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 6.3 apg over 4 gms)
Pascal Siakam: 20 pts, 7 rebs, 2 asts, 2 blks
Fred VanVleet: 17 pts, 2 rebs, 3 asts

Steph Curry: 24 pts, 4 rebs, 4 asts (28.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 5.3 apg over 4 gms)
Demarcus Cousins: 21 pts, 6 rebs, 3 asts, 1 stl
Draymond Green: 13 pts, 10 rebs, 9 asts, 1 stl

[ATLTimekeeper]

Here is how I look at it. Without Durant (I don't think he'll be back at all) the sides look pretty even, and a lot of people pick the Warriors to win, they're heavy favorites in Vegas, in fact. Although they're not better without Durant, his absence allows others to fill the gap, more ball movement, etc. It seems quite reasonable that the Warriors can still win without Durant.

Now imagine the Raptors without Leonard. Would they have a chance against the Warriors, even without Durant? No. This tells me that all the happy talk about how good the Raptors' defense is and how much talent they have around Leonard is just empty talk. The Warriors may well win without Durant. The Raptors would never win without Leonard.

The Raptors were actually pretty awesome without Kawhi this year and beat Golden State. More ball movement, etc.