The 2019 NBA Finals are set to get underway on Thursday night. Game 1 will be the first Finals game to take place outside of the United States, as the 58-24 Raptors narrowly beat out the 57-25 Warriors for home court advantage.
Despite Toronto’s home court advantage and regular season edge – including a 2-0 record vs. Golden State – the Warriors will enter the series as the overwhelming favorites to win their fourth title in five years, and third in a row. Even without Kevin Durant in their lineup for the start of the series, the Dubs have enough weapons on both ends of the court that they’ll be difficult to beat.
Of course, Golden State’s top weapon is Stephen Curry, who has gone into full-on Human Torch mode since Durant went down vs. Houston. In his last five games – all Warriors wins – Curry shot 41.7% on 14.4 three-point attempts per contest, and has scored at least 33 points in every game.
Klay Thompson has been a reliable No. 2 scoring option, averaging 22.6 PPG with a .400 3PT% over those five games, while Draymond Green has filled up the box score (14.8 PPG, 11.4 RPG, 8.4 APG, 2.4 BPG, 2.0 SPG) and been everywhere on defense.
Still, the Warriors have yet to face a defense like this Raptors’ unit in the postseason. Toronto’s starting lineup features a pair of former Defensive Players of the Year (Kawhi Leonard and Marc Gasol) and a former All-Defensive guard (Danny Green) to go along with stout and savvy point guard Kyle Lowry and an athletic forward who can guard all five positions (Pascal Siakam).
Throw in three-time All-Defensive player Serge Ibaka off the bench, and this is a Raptors team that’s capable of adjusting its scheme to a variety of offensive attacks, and switching, trapping, and helping as necessary. It’s possible that no NBA team can truly stop the Warriors, but this looks like the club that’s best equipped to slow them down.
The Raptors haven’t been as dangerous on offense during the playoffs, but Leonard is capable of single-handedly carrying the squad on that end of the court at times, and has turned in an all-time postseason performance through three rounds (31.2 PPG, 8.8 RPG, .507/.388/.875 shooting). In Thompson, Green, and Andre Iguodala, the Warriors have plenty of excellent defenders to throw at him, but Leonard is talented enough to score 30 points even on nights when the defense plays him well.
What do you think? Will the Warriors cement their place in NBA history by becoming the first franchise since the 2000-02 Lakers to win three straight championships? Or will the Raptors pull off the upset and bring Canada its first ever NBA title?
After voting in our poll, head to the comment section to weigh in further on this showdown. Will we see much of Durant this series? How heavily will the outcome weigh on his presence or absence? Will other injured players like DeMarcus Cousins or OG Anunoby make an impact? Which matchups do you expect each team to try to exploit?
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Toronto in 7. Honestly they’re getting extremely disrespected, beat the best team record wise, and finished with a better record than the Warriors.
Best record in the East is not the best in the West. East when while a little better was still top heavy. Houston was the 4 seed and arguably the second best team in the NBA. And by the way they play good defense. So the disrespect at this point is for the two time defending champs.
What don’t you comprehend? Please find me one person that can argue that Houston was the second best team. GS, Den, Tor, and Mil all better. Stop being a Warriors bandwagon fanboy at look at the facts that I pointed out. How on earth are they being disrespected? I’m the second paragraph it says they’re overwhelming favorites. Minutes after the Raptors beat the Bucks Warriors in 4 was trending. Stop trying to play the victim/underdog.
Raps not disrespected in this poll. And there’s no reason a newcomer should be held equal to the defending champ by the general public at least until they strike a few blows. Nobody’s calling the champ finished.
I think GSW may need bailing out by Durant and he is all for that.
What don’t you understand? Trying to insult a fanbase doesn’t help your point, it only makes you look like a pathetic child. Raptors fans are the biggest bandwagoners of then all. You sell tickets at gas stations, have to use a Disney child actor turned pretend gangster rapper to excite a fanbase. You traded for a guy who will never resign with you. Raptors weren’t even a top 3 team this year. Winning games in the east is a joke compared to the west. The only disrespect here is from the so called raptors fans who actually think your team has a chance because of a few regular season games. Get real.
Agree wholeheartedly, and I’m a Lakers fan. And my opinion is unbiased; they are getting disrespected – even the media slogan, “shock the world” is very disrespectful. Toronto has a great defense and are well balanced on both sides, Warriors and their braggadocios fans are in for a bit of a surprise. Toronto in 6 or 7.
Both teams defend well…the Under taker is on the move!
Warriors in 6. Toronto doesn’t have enough offense behind Kawhi to win this series.
That’s going on on a limb hopper15. Toronto is very well balanced on offense, arguably even slightly more potent than Golden State – they have 4-5 guys that can easily get double digit points, as you witnessed tonight. Been saying it since playoffs started, Raptors are best team to bring down GSW, they are much better than the credit they are getting, or not getting. Raptors in 6 or 7. Sincerely, Lakers fan, been watching and playing the game since 86′
If Toronto would have played in the west. They might not have made the playoffs. Warriors in a sweep 4-0
Warriors in 4-5. Can’t believe that in this poll Toronto come as favorites, must be a lot of Raps fans voting!
Nope, many of us are just common sense folks that know the game of basketball. Called it before the series started, Toronto in 6 or 7.