It’s also a team that has dealt with small and medium injuries to its stars and older rotation players like Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, both of whom were out tonight with injuries. You would hope, at least from a competitive and entertainment standpoint, that Leonard would be healthy in a Finals matchup, and with all things equal, it still seems like the Warriors would have the edge in that matchup, just on the basis of their star power.īut the Raptors have the deepest bench in the league, and if injuries come into play, that could prove a problem for a Warriors team that has already lost one young player (Damian Jones) for the season, has yet to see how DeMarcus Cousins will fare – judging by his warmups tonight, he still looks a ways away from being comfortable shooting.
In both matchups this season (with and without Leonard, and with the Warriors missing Curry and Draymond Green in the first) the Raptors have given the Warriors a difficult challenge that they haven’t been able to solve. While DeMar DeRozan is a fantastic player, he didn’t elevate the Raptors to the level the team is at now, nor did Dwane Casey as a coach. Leonard is a superstar in a league that demands (aside from the 2001 Detroit Pistons) that a championship-caliber team have at least one superstar. You would also imagine that a Finals matchup between the two would more competitive than tonight’s abysmal showing was. But it genuinely looks like the Nick Nurse-coached and Kawhi Leonard-led Raptors pose the greatest challenge to the Warriors, who, despite sloppy nights like tonight, still stand leaps and bounds above their competition in the West. If you had to guess the two teams to meet in the NBA Finals this season, it’s easy to pick the Warriors and the team with the best record in the East without looking any further. Was that an NBA Finals preview? Probably (and probably not) Here are five takeaways from tonight’s game:
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were a combined 11-of-34, accounting for just 26 points tonight. The Warriors couldn’t get within 14 points of the Raptors in the second half, with Kevin Durant 30 points (13-of-22) 7 rebounds, 5 assists seemingly the only one capable of making a shot. It did not get better in the second half. The Warriors trailed 57-41 at the end of the first half having shot an abysmal 38.6 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from 3-point range. It snaps a 13-game win streak the Warriors had over the Raptors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors played slow, sloppy basketball and were put to task by the Toronto Raptors, losing 113-93, despite the Raptors playing their second game of a back-to-back and again without their best player in Leonard. OAKLAND – No Kawhi Leonard, no problem, right? Wrong. One of the few highlight plays for the Warriors tonight