Raptors On Brink of First Ever Championship After Taking 3-1 Finals Lead

by Julian Spivey
The Toronto Raptors have taken a commanding 3-1 series lead in the NBA Finals over the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors with a strong 105-92 win in game four of the series. The win has the Raptors on the brink of winning their first championship in franchise history and the first major sports championship in any series since 1993 (before the Raptors even existed).
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I said after game three of the series on Wednesday that the Raptors were given a gift by the injury depleted Warriors, more so than winning the game on their own. That certainly wasn’t the case in game four on Friday night. The Raptors played their best overall half of the NBA Finals, in my opinion, to go from a two-point deficit at halftime to winning by 13 points.

Kawhi Leonard has without a doubt been the best overall player on the court for either team in this series and showed it again on Friday night with a stat line of 36 points on 50 percent shooting with 12 rebounds and four steals to go along with it. Serge Ibaka, who showed up big defensively in game three with six blocks, was a beast offensively and defensively in game four with 20 points (second most on the team). Leonard and Ibaka combined for 24 points in the third quarter on Friday, which outscored the entire Warriors squad in the quarter by three points.

The Warriors looked like they were in complete control of the game in the first half with Toronto unable to hit many shots, but turnover issues allowed the Raptors to remain close and only down by two points at the break when it felt like the Warriors could’ve easily had a double-digit lead at that point. Golden State’s inability to effectively put the Raptors away early really bit them in the backside in the second half.  

Klay Thompson, who missed game three of the series with a hamstring injury, was really the only shining player for the Warriors in game four. He scored a team-high 28 points on 11-for-18 shooting with six three-pointers.

Warriors two-time MVP Stephen Curry pretty much laid an egg in game four after a career playoff high of 47 points in the third game of the series where he attempted to almost single-handedly beat the Raptors. Curry scored 27 points on Friday night, but only shot 9-for-22 from the field and 2-for-9 from behind the arc. Nobody else on the Warriors scored more than 10 points as the team had a playoff low 92 points overall.

Not to keep beating a dead horse, but it’s unfortunate we didn’t get to see what this series would’ve been like with even a less than 100 percent Kevin Durant. It’s mighty hard to win a championship when your best player is on the sidelines, and yes Durant is the Warriors best player, even with the future no-brainer hall of famer that is Steph Curry. At least this puts to bed the unbelievable bullshit of people saying, “the Warriors are a better team without Kevin Durant,” which we heard a few times when the Warriors swept the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals without him.

I’m ready to call this a series. There’s no way the Warriors are going to win three consecutive games to make their dynasty run a three-peat, even if Durant somehow finds his way to the court in game five in Toronto on Monday, June 10. In fact, I think the Raptors will close this thing out in five games that night. 

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