Game 1 NBA Finals: Toronto Raptors (1-0) 118 - 109 Golden State Warriors (0-1)
First published May 31st 2019
Alright! Finals, here we fucking go!
Surprised Bell got the starting spot. I expected him to play but more of an experience in a few minutes to see if he's playable but this goes further than that. I'm sure it's motivated by Kerr wanting to keep Looney's rotation as he likes it.
The Raptors had the traditional positional matchups and things like having Curry "hide" on Danny Green and Draymond on Siakam, a poor enough shooter so he can do his usual help role, were expected. However, one of the questions was what would be the coverage for Kawhi and the primary assignment was given to Iguodala. Klay is an alternative but he's more foul prone and picking up his first in the first play he switches to Kawhi. Following a screen they either switched or doubled him, so it's looking like a read-and-act scenario but if there is a defense ready for that it's the Dubs.
To begin, Warriors started every halfcourt set with a Pick and Roll, with intent to have Curry switched onto Gasol at any opportunity. One of the big talking points coming into the game is the idea that Curry can run Marc off the floor, confining him to non-Steph minutes, the perfect place to unleash DeMarcus. Don't see it happening though. Curry would have a great scoring first quarter but a lot on the back of second chance shots where the defense isn't set.
Watching the first quarter, the Warriors didn't create a single breakdown in situations where the half court defense was set from the start of the play. If the Warriors don't kill them in transition (or with mismatches caused by defending them), I have no idea how they'll score reliably. Spoiler: They didn't. Back on the other end, the collapse on Kawhi forces the Warriors to have to sag off (usually) from opposing bigs. Twice they failed to rotate and allowed Gasol an island for an open 3 and he made them pay. We also saw moments where Siakam got to work on Curry but it's frustrating how this mismatch wasn't being forced, the Warriors simply switched themselves into it.
Looney comes in and I just wanted to point out a great example of what the Warriors most want in a defensive play: Get the ball out of Kawhi's hands and help off from Siakam to stop the hemorrhage. By the time Siakam is bringing the ball inside, Looney has tracked back and Dray can handle Pascal 1-on-1. Steph buys Looney an extra .5 seconds stepping towards Gasol and the counter for the Raptors is to exploit that half a second, but those type of reflexes and quick passing are easier said than done. Lowry reacts much quicker here.
A low scoring quarter where the Raptors separate themselves with the 3s the Warriors' scheme was conceding, plus mostly amazing first-shot defense. The latter would be the single greatest asset of the Raptors this game.
The Warriors second unit had Klay, Jerebko and Cousins. I enjoy getting that much scoring possibilities on non-Kawhi minutes. And DMC's making some finds, including the first non-transition easy shot inside the Warriors had all game. Green is taking away the DHO possibility but Powell, who can fall asleep off-ball, fails to react to the cut and Ibaka points it out loudly. But it's a huge story in this game how this is basically the only good half court look they got at the rim. DeMarcus staying on the floor alongside Kawhi is suicide and Toronto just started relentlessly attacking him.
A slight side-track but this hurt my eyes. Zero ideas, no real movement or screening, Cousins settles for an awful shot and then helps give Ibaka an easy transition make. Extra side note for Livingston, who did a better job on Kawhi than what I though he'd be capable of.
Now, Toronto breaks the tide and rises to a 10 point lead to end the half. Their defense on Curry on-ball was outstanding and completely nullified him: FVV is a pest who's awesome at staying with him through whatever off-ball screen is set and Gasol started pressuring up on him in PnR defense and he has great hands, bothering Steph a ton. The Warriors also seemed to be rushing it and in consecutive plays fumbled the inbound and had an abysmal turnover. Come on Curry... And he was again getting switched a ton onto bigs. Kerr has to ensure this stops.
Achieving this without significant scoring from Kawhi is impressive but the cost of removing him was letting the rest of the Raptors beat them. And they did.
Siakam struggled early with Dray and his spin to the right won't work if spammed but as the game went along not only did he exploit smaller players but was able to beat Green on the post with shiftiness. I give him credit for adapting quickly and in the second half he sure made his presence felt, on both ends. He was also making every jumper and at that point you have to accept luck his on his side.
I need to shout how outstanding Marc Gasol is. Add to his amazing defense (seriously, how many things did he do on this possession?!) the fact that they can trust him to create offense in any scenario.
With Curry not being able to free himself and turning the ball over when trapped I think I can give a single gif to convey what this 3rd quarter was: Here. There was a lot of free throws and stoppages in the couple of minutes that closed the quarter so if you want some fun just look a FVV chasing Curry like a rabid dog. The moment I got scared was Draymond picking up his 4th foul with 5 minutes into the half.
Was pleased in Kerr for sticking to DMC in the early-2nd/early-4th spots. Also was important having Curry not play entire second halves (as he did in Portland), which had him exhausted by crunch time.
The unit of Kyle/FVV/Kawhi/Siakam/Ibaka was in with 10 min still to go and the defense was locked in. This is great reading after every pass and drive and scrambling to the right positions. And again, Kerr kept DMC in for far too long. Once the line up changed for the Raptors he should have sat back on the bench. This should speak for itself. After this awful defensive play he did bring Looney in but that was 2 or 3 possessions too many when it's a 10 point game. That's on Steve.
The Raptors were getting everything they wanted from fast breaks. Lowry doing outlets to Siakam is a Raptors classic at this point and Danny found his shot when his team most needed it but there's something scary for a Warriors fan when a pace increase backfires on the team.
I won't focus a lot on the closing minutes because the Warriors never got close. They ran a lot of Curry PnR and, despite the incredible defensive execution, he got to the line enough that it was decent offense but the Warriors never got any stops and when they did they allowed key offensive boards. And "execution" is the key word. The Raptors didn't have a particularly better strategy but made a handful of mistakes while the Warriors had a ton of turnovers, failed to rotate multiple times and their transition defense was shit in the second half. 24-17 for Toronto in Fast Break Points.
The Warriors struggled for generating offense and had good plays out of timeouts, with slips to the basket or a double pin-down for a Splash Bro but the Raps defense kept destroying their attempts to gain rhythm after.
Siakam was on another level. 11 FGs in a row is stupid. He had the most perfect game on both ends that people could expect from him. Plus, Lowry and Gasol were everything they needed to be as complementary pieces. Add all the terrible things i listed for the Dubs and you'd think this was merely the perfect recipe for the Raptors to win. And then you remember that Kawhi missed almost every jumpshot... And as a Warriors fan you get scared.
Awesome game by Toronto and a deserved win. They already showed they're the best defense the Warriors saw in this era - 73 ORTG in the halfcourt for GS. Let's see what game 2 brings. I really, really hope Iguodala is fine.
Other notes:
Toronto are a bad defensive rebounding team but every offensive board they allow leading to an open 3 doesn't fly. They lost 2nd chance points by 11 points (and still won by 9 points lol).
Klay wasn't getting great looks early on but he was rising over guards too small to truly contest him and missing everything. The issue is there's only two real scorers in the Warriors best lineup right now so it's going to be really hard. The Raptors have a such a easy time helping off everyone that isn't the Splash Brothers.
Speaking of the hardships at the rim and Dray: While him being much more aggressive pushing the ball and getting to the rim has been a big part of the Warriors post season he's now facing a team with a lot more length and a great rim protector in Marc. It just got harder for him to make these if they take away his passing lanes. Plus, Lowry is a charge magician. And this would reveal itself during the definitive stretch of this game.
McCaw playing is a mental move over strategy. It worked on me. That 3 he made pissed me off.
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