Toronto Better Than Injury-Plagued Warriors in Game 3, 123-109

The absence of Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant from the Golden State’s lineup was something the champs couldn’t cover up. That is why they lost at home to Toronto Raptors with 123-109, who now regained the home court advantage.

Despite fantastic Steph Curry who dropped a playoff-high 47 points, the Warriors were helpless against confident and relentless Raptors who came to the Oracle Arena fired up.

“We’ve missing 50 points pretty much, between KD and Klay,” said Steph Curry at the press conference.

Right from the beginning, the guests were setting the pace and the tempo on the court. Not once during the entire match did GSW had a lead, which is something pretty shocking when Warriors play at the Oracle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DFMN9JOhy0

The first period ended with Toronto scoring 36 points, and Nurse’s guys kept on pounding in the same rhythm during the second quarter. They quickly build a 52-38 lead, but after that failed to score for 4:45. Luckily for them, the hosts were inefficient too, as they dropped just 4 points during that interval.

After the halftime, the situation on the floor was the same, and the Raptors constantly had between 6 and 10 points of advantage. In the closing moments of the third, they shifted into a higher gear reaching a 16-point lead, 96-80.

The Warriors then made a 9-0 run, which turned out to be the last notable thing they did in this match. Quickly afterward the guests responded with an 11-1 series which sealed this game.

“Just ran into a better team tonight,” said Steve Kerr, Golden State’s coach. “They made big shots every time they needed to.”

When talking about shots, Toronto was 52.4% from the field, 43 of 82. The Raptors also made 17 threes in 38 attempts, which is 44.7%. On the other side, the Warriors were 36 of 91 from the field, 39.6% and 12 of 36 for three, 33.3%.

Kawhi Leonard had 30 buckets, 7 boards, and 6 assists, shooting from the free throw line 10 for 11. Kyle Lowry was superb and had 23 points, 9 assists, and 4 boards, using all the advantages he had over the Warriors backcourt in this encounter.

#WETHENORTH@kawhileonard (30 PTS, 7 REB, 6 AST), @Klow7 (23 PTS, 5 3PM, 9 AST), & @DGreen_14 (18 PTS, 6 3PM) all come up big in the @Raptors (2-1) Game 3 win on the road! #NBAFinals

Game 4: Friday (6/7), 9pm/et, ABC & TSN pic.twitter.com/KkX4NqvgWT

— NBA (@NBA) June 6, 2019

Pascal Siakam found his rhythm after a sloppy performance in Game 2. Toronto’s forward scored 18 points grabbed 9 rebounds and delivered 6 assists.

“Knowing that your teammates trust you and the coaches believe in your work, that definitely boosts your confidence,” said Siakam following the match.

But the guys who really decided this match were Marc Gasol and Danny Green. These two guys scored 35 points combined and were fantastic in the moments when Toronto needed some points or big plays.

Gasol had 17 points with 7 boards and 4 dimes. Meanwhile, Green found his touch from behind the arc, and dropped six threes in 10 tries, totaling 18 points.

On the other side, Steph had 47 as we said earlier, shooting 14 of 31 from the field, 6 of 14 for three. Besides that, the two-time NBA MVP added 8 boards and 7 assists. Draymond Green was the next best thing for the hosts, with 17 buckets and 7 boards. Iguodala had 11 and 6 rebounds.

Shockingly, these three were the only ones with a double-digit number of points. DeMarcus Cousins had just 4 buckets, shooting 1 of 7 from the field, in 19 minutes. It seems that Boogie still struggles with an injury and he isn’t capable of playing at a high level.

There was one incident in the Oracle tonight early in the fourth quarter. While trying to reach a ball, Kyle Lowry jumped in the first row. One of the fans there deliberately pushed Toronto’s player in his shoulder and was very vulgar towards the guests’ point guard. He would be escorted from the arena later, but this was really a shocking situation.

Raptors are leading 2-1 now, and they are in a solid situation. Klay Thompson should be back for Game 4, but Kevin Durant’s condition is still not clear. If by any chance these two don’t play in the next clash, Toronto will be very close to securing a matchpoint in Canada.

Game 4 is on this Friday.