2019 NBA Finals: Golden State Warriors vs. Toronto Raptors

Who have the raptors signed in the past few days that I am not aware of? cos you most surely cant be thinking of Vanvleet, Powell and Ibaka? The rest of the roster are scrubs like Meeks, Miller, Linsanity, and McCaw (who GS cut) who probably wont get minutes except for garbage time and severe foul trouble.

Portland had a better bench with Seth Curry, Hood, Turner, Loenard and Collins, and yet they couldnt overcome GS

Nurse essentially played an 8-man rotation against the Bucks while Kerr has shown the willingness to go very deep into his rotation both against Rockets and Blazers.

Raptors bench are one of the few that GS backups can beat. If the Raptors starters cant get it done, the bench cant bail them out

 

Warriors are going to win, but I think this series is going to be close.
Raptors have the most lengthy and athletic defenders so no more easy buckets in the paint by Livingston, Draymond and Looney. No more easy drives and offensive rebounds by Draymond. And KD will no longer be defended by smaller defenders (like Pat or PJ).
Warriors struggled to keep Montrezl from scoring in the paint so I can see them struggling against defending Gasol, Siakam and Kawhi.
Kawhi will be going at Steph every possession so I can see Steph and Klay getting into foul trouble.

 

His uncle said
Regardless of champ, kawhi is leaving Toronto.

 

Who does Golden State have when Iguodala is a starter? Livingston is a shadow of his old self, same for Bogut. Technically Loony is a reserve, but he's basically the guy playing the most center minutes so I'm counting him as one of their five best players with Cousins and Durant out. The rest of the Warriors' bench is pretty weak--capable of having some nice moments, but hardly consistently decent.

Portland's starters aren't anywhere near as good overall as Toronto's. I wouldn't expect their bench to be enough to overtake Golden State.

 

Boring series.....not the good boring either...

Wake me up when O’Brien runs it up the middle on 1st & 10 and 3rd n long.

 

Warriors will bomb three and win in 6

 

Warriors bench are weak but they are still better than Raptors.

Livingston, Cook, Mckinnie, Jerebko, Bell, Jones, and Bogut are still better and deeper than VanVleet & co

The quality of Portland's starter is irrelevant.

GSW bench matched the productivity of Portland bench over the 4 games with 130pts each (+8 in Game 1, -8 in Game 2, and equal in games 3 & 4).

Raptors bench is weaker and not as deep as Portland, and thus there is no basis to think they would out perform GSW bench where the Blazers have failed.

Like I said earlier, if Raptors' starters cannot get the job done, their bench have very little chance of bailing them out against GS

 

Most commenters here have not watched enough Raptor games. They are much better than the credit they are given. I do think the Warriors are better but their current version is not unbeatable. The Warriors have shown signs of cracks and Toronto needs to win the first game to have them show again. If Toronto wins the first game I think they have a good shot at it. Toronto is better built for this Warrior team than any previos squad (Embid/Giannis) they played in the playoffs.

 

If the Warriors somehow end up losing to the Raptors, Trump should close the northern border and not let the Warriors back into the country as punishment.

Also Lin, aka the full time bench cheerleader, might actually see some minutes in the finals if the Warriors blow out the Raptors in some games.

 

If Durant was playing, then Raptors might have had a better chance cos Kawhi would be guarding Durant and limiting GS offensive options. Without KD, the focus of GS offense shift to Curry and Klay, and that is a very difficult matchup for Lowry and Green.

Then comes the interesting question of who does Kawhi guard? It would be a waste to put him on Iggy and putting him on Draymond would be interesting but also waste him on the perimeter (given how poor of a shooter Green is). Who ever Kawhi guards, Siakam gets the other while Gasol likely pairs up primarily with Looney.

This is still manageable on paper, but the heavy movement by KDless GS, forces switches that creates mismatches. Also the relenting pace aim to take big men out of it.

On the other side, I dont see the matchup that favors Raptors heavily enough. Kawhi vs Iggy/Draymond/Klay should be interesting and maybe Siakam and Gasol can dominate the boards. Overall, I just dont see the firepower to threaten GS.

 

What are the Vegas Odds that Kawhi actually stays? Below average.

 

I won't Vote . . .. cause I really have absolutely no dog in the fight

We'll see

Rocket River

 

When did he say that? I read an interview with him yesterday where he said they aren't even thinking about FA right now...

 

On his sisters instagram page, she posted a live video while someone yelled that he wont even be there next year. She deleted it now.

 

Warriors in 5. GSW rule the NBA and will break the Raptors will in 5 games

 

That was an unexpected result, though. Golden State's bench productivity has been bad all season. Even Kerr, a guy who likes to play everyone, didn't trust them until he lost Durant. Just because they had an unusually good 4 games against Portland doesn't mean that they're better than Portland's bench and, thus, better than the Raptors' bench.

What makes Cook any better than Lin, for example? Both are marginal NBA players who barely played (until Durant got hurt, in Cook's case). With Iguodala and Loony among the Warriors' five best players, Golden State has no one on their bench the quality of Ibaka, Powell or Vanvleet. So, sure, the Raptors go only 8 deep...the Warriors go only 5 deep. After that, both teams are relying on scrubs. 8 is significantly deeper than 5.

 

The raptors are going to defeat the GS without Durant.

 

Raptors have better Support Players than the Rockets/Blazers/Clippers

Curry vs Lowry - Interesting but expect Curry to be better of the two
Klay vs. Denny Green - Denny has become invisible. But still plays competent defense - Expect Klay to take this one
Iggy or McKinnie vs. Kawhi - Kawhi should win this one
Draymond vs Siakam - Siakam should play this to at least an even - I don't expect Siakam to lose his sh*t like Capela
Looney vs. Gasol - Gasol should dominate this position but one never knows


Raptors Bench - VanVleet/Ibaka/Powell - If they play like last series it will be incredible

Rocket River

 

GSW has the best chemistry in the last 3-5 years. Not close.

If Durant and Cousins come back and play a role, there is no doubt who is the biggest favorite.

I dun mind Kawhi winning it all by himself and maybe with Van Vleet but dun expect him to be back even with a ship.