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2019.06.02 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 2
2019.06.02 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 2 – Full Game Highlights!
2019.06.02 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 2
2019.06.02 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 2 – Stephen Curry – 23 Pts, 4 Asts!
2019.06.02 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 2
2019.06.02 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 2 – Klay Thompson – 25 Pts, 5 Asts, Left INJURED!
Dubs’ Third Quarter Magic! Warriors past the Raptors Game 2
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) drives to the net as Toronto Raptors center Marc Gasol (33) looks on during the first half of Game 2 of basketball’s NBA Finals, Sunday, June 2, 2019, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/ The Canadian Press via AP)
2019.06.02 – The Golden State Warriors brought their patented third-quarter magic and ran off the first 18 points to a 109-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors that tied the NBA Finals at one game apiece.
The Warriors cobbled together a good enough finish to the second quarter to keep it close, then stormed out of the locker room with one of their vintage third-quarter charges that have been so frequent during their run to five straight NBA Finals.
“Third quarter we didn’t play well enough. We missed too many shots,” Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said. “They got out in transition and got a little confidence going. We lost the game there.”
DeMarcus Cousins was inserted into the starting lineup and delivered 11 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Draymond Green had 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists — missing by one assist a fourth straight triple-double.
Golden State will hope to have enough healthy bodies to get through this NBA Finals. Klay Thompson landed awkwardly after a 3-point attempt early in the fourth quarter and limped off soon after, with backup center Kevon Looney already missing the second half with a chest or shoulder injury and still without Kevin Durant, who missed his seventh straight game with a strained right calf but hopes to return during the series.
For now, they got key contributions from Quinn Cook, who hit three 3-pointers, and veteran center Andrew Bogut, who wasn’t even part of the roster most of the season but came off the bench for three baskets.
“It was a great win. We got to go home and protect our home floor and we’ll see about all the injuries,” coach Steve Kerr said. “But I’m very proud of our team and in particular all the guys off the bench.”
Kerr said Thompson told him that he thought his injury was minor and he’d be fine, but added that “Klay could be half dead and he would say he would be fine.” Kerr was unsure the nature of Looney’s injury.
The Warriors relied on a champion’s heart to overcome their weary bodies. Thompson scored 25 points before leaving with a hamstring injury, Stephen Curry had 23. With Kevin Durant already out and Thompson eventually joining him in the fourth quarter, the Warriors just don’t feel great right now — but they would’ve felt a whole lot worse flying home in a 2-0 hole.
None of those injuries mattered. Andre Iguodala’s 3 with 5.9 seconds left sent this series back to Oakland and tied at one game apiece. The Warriors also hold home-court advantage enter Game 3 on Wednesday at Oracle Arena.
“I like Steph. He’s a good dude. He’ a good guy to be around. He’s the only reason I like playing basketball,” Iguodala said. “I’ve never seen such a good person get backlash or whatever from his peers. They’re so jealous of what he has. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect his legacy.”
That shouldn’t be surprising. All of the Warriors also do whatever it takes to protect their legacy. The Warriors face uncertainty on whether Durant, Thompson or Looney will play in Game 3, but the Warriors responded the same way they did when Durant initially injured his right calf in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals on May 8. The Warriors closed out that game out before cementing a decisive Game 6. Why should it be any different amid the Warriors’ hopes to win their fourth NBA title in the past five years? Not only have the Warriors aligned their branding with their star players. They also have plastered a “Strength in Numbers” philosophy on billboards and posters.
“Our DNA shows up, so it’s not something you just throw out there to have nice shirts and give out to the crowd at Oracle and have all this marketing stuff,” Curry said. “It’s literally how we approach every day from training camp to June, how we support each other, how guys stay ready throughout the year.”
Iguodala, himself slow to get up after a hard fall in the first half, made the clinching 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds left after the Raptors scored 10 straight points to cut it to 106-104.
👌 Andre Iguodala seals the @warriors Game 2 road win in #PhantomCam! #StrengthInNumbers #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/99RZpjkP0j
— NBA (@NBA) June 3, 2019
Kawhi Leonard had 34 points and 14 rebounds for the Raptors. They had won five straight since falling behind 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals.
Curry appeared to be laboring as well in the first half, returning to the locker room in the midst of six straight misses to start the game.
Fred VanVleet scored 17 points for the Raptors, who had red T-shirts with their slogan “We The North” hanging on seats around the arena.
The Warriors were seeing red, especially Curry, during a mostly miserable first half when they missed 20 of their first 28 shots.
He hung his head and didn’t even attempt to run back when VanVleet stole the ball from him and made a layup to give Toronto an 11-point lead with a little more than 2 minutes remaining in the half.
But Curry made two free throws for the final points of the half to cut it to 59-54, then the Warriors came back and pitched a shutout until nearly the midpoint of the third quarter during a series-changing — perhaps season-changing — swing.
Iguodala had five quick points including a 3-pointer that moved Golden State into the lead at 61-59. The surge continued with three straight baskets from Thompson and three more from Green, whose last one capped the 18-0 run that Elias said was the longest to start a half in NBA Finals history and made it 72-59 before Toronto finally got on the board with a 3-pointer with VanVleet with 6:20 remaining in the period.
“They moved the ball really well and were running freely,” Raptors center Marc Gasol said. “Once they run freely, everything opens up for them.”
The Warriors had won 12 straight Game 1s and this was their first time playing from behind in the finals since they were down 2-1 to Cleveland in 2015. They showed no signs of concern during the off days, and Thompson suggested part of the problem during their 118-109 loss Thursday was rust after they had nine days off in between series.
Their bigger problem early in Game 2 was the defense of the Raptors. But Toronto — which had a 23-0 advantage in second-chance points — missed a chance to take a comfortable lead into the half and couldn’t overcome its 37 percent shooting, with Pascal Siakam going 5 for 18 for 12 points after scoring 32 in the opener.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Curry had his streak of 30-point games snapped at six. Wilt Chamberlain and Rick Barry share the Warriors’ postseason record with seven straight. … Kerr earned his 76th postseason victory, moving past Chuck Daly and Don Nelson.
Raptors: Siakam missed his first three shots, as many as he missed in Game 1 while going 14 for 17. … OG Anunoby was active for the first time in the playoffs after having an emergency appendectomy April 11, but didn’t play.
FAMOUS FAN
President Barack Obama sat next to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver across the court from the Toronto bench, getting a loud ovation and “MVP! MVP!” chants when shown on the overhead video screen and introduced in the second quarter.
UP NEXT
The series moves to Oracle Arena for Games 3 and 4, with the first NBA Finals to be played outside the U.S. assured of returning to Canada for Game 5.
Read more at: Golden State Warriors Media Services / More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
For more on the Golden State Warriors, see the blog at www.EMIsportsCentral.com
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2019.05.30 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 1
2019.05.30 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 1 – Full Game Highlights!
2019.05.30 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 1
2019.05.30 – Warriors vs Raptors – 2019 NBA Finals Game 1 – Stephen Curry – 34 Pts, 5 Asts!
Dubs Rusty on NBA Finals Opener – Warriors fall to Raptors Game 1
Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson, front, and Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (43) reach for the ball during the second half of Game 1 of basketball’s NBA Finals, Thursday, May 30, 2019, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
2019.05.30 – The Golden State Warriors looked rusty shooting 44 percent, turned the ball over 17 times and fell to the Toronto Raptors 118-109 in the NBA Finals series opener.
The Raptors hardly looked like newcomers to the NBA’s biggest stage, controlling the action most of the way against a Golden State team beginning its fifth straight NBA Finals appearance.
Stephen Curry scored 34 points and Klay Thompson had 21 for the Warriors, who had won all four Game 1s in the last four years. All those had come at home, but this time Golden State doesn’t have home-court — or home country — advantage.
“Our goal was to get one and it’s still on the table for us,” Thompson said. “So I know we’ll respond like the champions we are.”
All four of the Warriors’ previous finals were against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they struggled to figure out a new opponent. Toronto shot 50.6 percent from the field and the Warriors never found an answer for Pascal Siakam, the finalist for Most Improved Player who has a nice start for an NBA Finals MVP resume.
“We didn’t play very well tonight at all and we still had a chance the entire game,” Draymond Green said. “And it was a great atmosphere. This is a team or a city, a country, that hasn’t seen a finals ever here, so we expected it to be a great atmosphere and it was. But we can still play better and I know we will.”
Fans began arriving at Jurassic Park outside the arena in the morning. There were lengthy lines at the arena entrances hours before the game, with some of the few fans who weren’t wearing Raptors red sticking to their original purple uniform with the dinosaur logo.
Rapper and Raptors global ambassador Drake sat in his courtside seat wearing a Curry No. 30 jersey. That’s Dell Curry, Stephen’s father who finished his career with the Raptors.
The Raptors introduced Dell Curry and some of their other former players after the first quarter, a group that included perennial All-Stars such as Tracy McGrady and Chris Bosh.
But it wasn’t until they got kawhi Leonard in a trade with San Antonio that Toronto was finally good enough to get to the NBA Finals.
He wasn’t the dominant force he was in the first three rounds, when he averaged 31.2 points. But he had eight rebounds and five assists in his first NBA Finals game since winning MVP of the 2014 championship with the Spurs.
Leonard added 23 points and Marc Gasol had 20 for the Raptors, who weren’t in awe of the setting or their opponents who had played 22 NBA Finals games in the last four years.
“We know that they’re human. They’re a great basketball team, talented players, high basketball-IQ players,” Leonard said. “You just got to go out there and compete, take the challenge.”
Siakam and the Raptors really gave Toronto something to celebrate. Siakam scored a playoff career-high 32 points and the Raptors made a smashing NBA Finals debut.
“I think we did pretty good job at home,” Siakam said. “The fans are amazing, man. I just want to say that. From coming out for warmup to the end of the game, it was just the support and then going crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Siakam went 6 for 6 in the third quarter to keep Golden State from gaining much ground, and the Raptors kept their lead around double digits for much of the final quarter, countering every attempt the Warriors made to catch up.
The native of Cameroon and nicknamed Spicy P was red hot, shooting 14 for 17 from the field — and he tipped in his own shot on the last of those misses with 54 seconds to play.
DeMarcus Cousins made it back from a torn left quadriceps to come off the bench in his first NBA Finals game, but the Warriors remained without Kevin Durant, the MVP of the last two NBA Finals. He traveled to Toronto but it’s unclear if he’ll play before the series returns to the Bay Area, with Warriors coach Steve Kerr saying he would have to go through a practice first.
The Warriors had won every game since he got hurt in the second round but sure missed him against the Raptors, who are on a roll after falling behind 2-0 to Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference finals.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Cousins finished with three points in eight minutes. … Green had his fifth triple-double of the postseason with 10 points, 10 rebounds and assists, but shot just 2 for 9. … Golden State had a 12-game winning streak in Game 1s snapped. … Curry’s four 3-pointers gave him a record 102 in the NBA Finals and he was also 14 for 14 from the free throw line.
Raptors: Danny Green went 3 for 7 from 2-point range after he was just 4 for 23 in the conference finals. … The Raptors improved to just 4-15 in Game 1s.
DRAKE AND DRAYMOND
Green and Drake exchanged words at the end of the game, but the Warriors shot down a suggestion it was more than that.
“It wasn’t really a scuffle because I didn’t hit him and he didn’t hit me, and I didn’t push him and he didn’t push me,” Green said. “We talked. We barked a little bit, but I wouldn’t necessarily consider that a scuffle, not really what I personally would consider a scuffle.”
UP NEXT
Game 2 is Sunday night in Toronto, which is hosting an NBA Finals game for the first time after the Raptors entered the league as an expansion team in 1995.
Read more at: Golden State Warriors Media Services / More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
For more on the Golden State Warriors, see the blog at www.EMIsportsCentral.com
49ERS FIT – FREE 4-DAY PASS
EMI Sports Central – EMI Sports Bay Area: Join the conversation on sports news for SF Bay Area teams: Follow @EMIsports on Twitter, “Like” us on Facebook and sign up for our FREE email newsletters.