This is the NBA Finals game matchup between Toronto Raptors vs Golden State Warriors, in Scotiabank arena, the home of the Raptors. This should be an exciting NBA game, so please review our thoughts, here below.
Golden State Warriors
Warriors are coming after a loss in game 1 of the Finals. This game will be very important for them because if they lose, Golden State will be with a 2-0 deficit in this series and it would be hard for them to come back. Warriors have to prove that they are being called “the best team in history” for a good reason.
So Golden State will be playing on the road again. In game 1 they lost mainly because everyone, besides Steph Curry, did not step up and played quietly badly. Warriors needed some more help from the bench and they did not get it. However, Golden State still managed to score 109 points and this is a good result for the majority of teams.
Their biggest problem was the defense. Defensively it looked that Warriors were missing focus and concentration. Probably, this is because they had 9 days break, which is even two times bigger than the all-star break, so I think this was the reason for missing focus. The rotation was bad, they lost many 1 on 1 situation and this caused their loss. I expect that in this game, Warriors will come on the floor with some new adjustments.
Kevin Durant is still injured. Andre Iguodala is still questionable and dated as day-to-day.
Warriors best players last game: Stephen Curry (34pts, 5ass, 5rebs), Klay Thompson (21pts, 5rebs, 1ast), Draymond Green (10pts, 10rebs, 10ast).
Toronto Raptors
Toronto is coming off a great win and is looking good at the start of the Finals. They need to keep that great intensity and bring it to the game 2 because this game will be way harder than game 1 was and Raptors definitely don’t want to lose home court advantage.
After this game, I have two thoughts in my head about the Raptors.
First is that they played very well offensively. Bench players played great basketball and some starters also played above their possibilities. Kawhi did not even play well and this is great for them as this means that Raptors still have resources in this series.
Secondly, I am not sure if they are able to keep this great focus and concentration. Toronto had only 4 days rest compared to Warriors 9 days. They have played very long playoffs. And this could be the reason that Raptors’ players may appear tired in some situations. This also may cause some injuries and this would be devastating for the Raptors.
There are no major injuries.
Raptors best players last game: Pascal Siakam (32pts, 8rebs, 5ast), Kawhi Leonard (23pts, 8rebs, 5ast), Marc Gasol (20pts, 7rebs, 1ast).
Article image is taken from https://www.raptorshq.com/2018/11/29/18118702/toronto-raptors-golden-state-warriors-game-thread