As much as it pains me to root for them and favor them, I think Toronto can take it to 6 or 7 games or even win it all. People acting like this is over already don't understand how good this Toronto team is defensively (arguably the best in the league), and clearly don't know how good Kawhi is rofl.
I guess it'll depend on when KD comes back. That could be the deciding factor, but Toronto needs to take game 1 and jump on the opportunity without him out there.
Lowry will need to show up and play like a dog on the defensive end, probably starting on Curry much of the time. Also putting Kawhi on Draymond, instead of Curry (though Kawhi will be on Curry in crunch situations for sure), blows up the Curry-Green pick and roll because Kawhi is now the switcher onto Curry. The Raptors will likely put Siakam on Curry at times as well, making that Leonard-Siakam defensive duo on the Curry-Green pick and roll super long and athletic.
Also, some fun facts:
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Again, all six of Golden State's games against Houston were within five points with five minutes to play, which the NBA defines as clutch time. All told, 10 of the Warriors' 16 playoff games have been decided in those final five clutch minutes. They are just 6-4 in those games, and as stated above, they trailed Portland by at least 17 points in each of the final three games of the conference finals. In other words, they are not blowing many games open like they used to. In fact, their point differential through the first three rounds -- 6.2 per 100 possessions -- is the lowest it's been over the past five postseasons.
Chances are, there are going to be a lot of close games in these Finals, and that actually might favor Toronto, and specifically Leonard, who has become a killer closer and leads the entire playoffs with 48 total points in clutch time. Meanwhile, Curry, for all the talk about his domination in Durant's absence, is shooting just 25.9 percent -- 7 for 27 -- in clutch time during these playoffs. If it is Kawhi checking Steph in those final five minutes, how much do you expect that number to improve?
At the end of the day, I want to see the Evil Empire (Golden State) die this year. I am willing to hear Phil and these other Rapturd fans talk shit, and see Drake be obnoxious and "WE DA NORF" slapped all over everything. I can't root for Golden State, I just can't.
This post was edited by Sixers on May 29 2019 09:27am