No LeBron? No problem.
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Raptors hardest series was against the Sixers apparently. The top of the East was just brutal this season.
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@KirkIsMyHinrich Raptors are very lucky this series. No KD, less than 100% Klay, less than 100% Iguadala, less than 100% Boogie.
Raptors are absolutely taking advantage of the situation and should be applauded for it because they are a very good team (probably would’ve beaten Lebron’s Cavs), but they’re also not getting anywhere bear the Warriors best shot.
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Texas Hawk 10 said:
@KirkIsMyHinrich Raptors are very lucky this series. No KD, less than 100% Klay, less than 100% Iguadala, less than 100% Boogie.
Raptors are absolutely taking advantage of the situation and should be applauded for it because they are a very good team (probably would’ve beaten Lebron’s Cavs), but they’re also not getting anywhere bear the Warriors best shot.
Sort of the way the Warriors haven’t been getting other teams’ best shot in previous finals because the other team has had injuries? Or the way the Warriors didn’t get the Spurs best shot in the 2017 Western Conference Finals because Zaza Pachulia stepped under Kawhi Leonard and he missed the series with an ankle injury? I’m familiar with the Warriors roster and of course it would be a different finals series if Durant was healthy, but I’m not feeling bad for Golden State at all because they’ve definitely been on the other side of that coin many times.
Also, the Warriors were the favorites to win before the series began. The Raptors were 2-0 against the Warriors in the regular season. The regular season game at Oracle the Raptors won 113-93, and that was with Durant going for 30/7/5. I don’t want to hear about the Raptors getting lucky.
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@KirkIsMyHinrich 1000% agree. We’ve heard excuses about who wins more than half the time in the NBA for as long as I can remember. Life happens.
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@approxinfinity That doesn’t change that teams catch lucky breaks because of those situations. Toronto is catching a huge break by not having to deal with KD or a 100% Thompson and Iguadala. Not every team takes advantage of those situations. Houston couldn’t take advantage of winning at home in Game 6 without KD and Portland couldn’t take advantage either.
Toronto is catching a lucky break in this series. They are also taking full advantage of that lucky break to this point in the series.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 this is true. But those are the dice you roll when you pay big money to your top guys and your bench is weak. Iguodala has been injury prone for a long time. Cousins is a big man coming off an achilles injury. High risk. In terms of those two guys I would say Golden State would be lucky if they are healthy and injured is what you would expect. Nobody is going to be shocked if Doke goes down this year. I’d feel lucky if he stays healthy.
So really Golden State has bet almost everything on 3 stars staying healthy. It’s a calculated risk. At what point do you stop calling it bad luck and call it a gamble that backfired?
It’s one strategy vs another. You have a Toronto team that’s deep and well constructed vs a top heavy team of aging stars. In this case, the first strategy is winning (so far).
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The lesson is that true champions are determined by tournaments. You have to persevere and overcome. Good fortune and bad fortune are all part of it.
And the true champion may not be the absolute best team. Two different things.
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Toronto had their own injury issues to deal with this season as well. Kawhi missed basically all of last season and missed 21 games this year, Kyle Lowry missed 16 games due to injury. The Raptors had their own significant injury issues. The difference between them and GS right now is the timing of those injuries.
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I’d say we are getting robbed by injuries, but this series is so boring I haven’t watched a game. First finals I’ve completely skipped since before Jordan.
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One of the things that makes dynasties hard to sustain is the luck factor.
This Warriors roster has been in place for about 5 years now, as far as the main guys. Through that time, the team stayed relatively healthy, while it was their opponents often felled by injury.
In the first Finals matchup, they drew a Cleveland team that was missing Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving got hurt in Game 1.
Kawhi missed most of the 2017 series against the Spurs. OKC didn’t get them at 100%. Houston had them on the ropes last year before Chris Paul went out with an injury.
Eventually, that injury luck runs out. It just so happens that it has all run out at once for Golden State.
And remember, Kawhi isn’t 100%. He looked like he was playing on one leg in Game 1. Kyle Lowry can barely catch with his left hand because of a thumb ligament injury that will probably require surgery.
It’s just that for the first time during this run, Golden State is more banged up than their opponent.
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It’s pretty enjoyable watching Jordan Bell get abused by the Raptors.
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Anyone watching this? Good game.
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Leonard has made some bad plays this last quarter . How was that not a travel?
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… and some great things.
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Wow.
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This is stupid. Show the above the rim angle, it’s the only one that matters.
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Ayesha Curry was right. The NBA is rigged.
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Toronto pissed this one away. Alright. Still unwatchable.
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Sad to see KD go down!
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@Crimsonorblue22 oh man. Its a torn Achilles. Sucks.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26944533/warriors-believe-kd-torn-achilles
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I wonder if Durant’s leg was ever going to heal with rest or if this was inevitable? It looked like an Achilles’ injury from the outset.
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It is possible that it was inevitable. It’s also possible that the additional strain from the calf injury put too much stress on the Achilles. Or perhaps the Achilles was the problem the entire time, but it was causing the calf to flare.
Either way, there’s almost no chance Durant plays during the regular season next year. The quickest he returns would be February of 2020, but I doubt whichever team signs him would want to take that risk and push him to play that quickly, particularly since Durant will turn 31 this fall. More likely he misses all of next season, and returns in the 2020-21 season.
This changes a lot about how next year in the NBA plays out, regardless of who wins the title this season.
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@justanotherfan I was trying to think how long cousins was out, do you remember? I thought he had a pretty quick recovery.
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Crimsonorblue22 said:
@justanotherfan I was trying to think how long cousins was out, do you remember? I thought he had a pretty quick recovery.
The folks at ESPN and Fivethirtyeight.com have all the answers.
This article has a nice little table in it.
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@Crimsonorblue22 The NBA ruins the NBA for me.
