Everything Round 4: Raptors vs. Warriors

[consmap]

Let's get these sons of bitches.

[BadDinosaur]

I really believe sans KD we can beat them pretty easily. These playoffs they haven't seen anything close to the D we're playing. Also, we'll be able to attack Curry the entire game. Force the switch on every possesion and make Kawhi, Siakam, Powell and Kyle attack Curry relentlessly. Make him play D all 48 minutes and as a bonus he might end up in foul trouble. Shut down their breaks and limit Stephs and Klay's 3s and this is going to be a breeze.

They don't have the D they once had. Their D rating is at 110 these playoffs and that includes the series against the horribly struggling Blazers. Our D is NBA best at 102 rating. And that is after these 2 series against the most explosive offensive squads in 76ers and Bucks.

Without KD, they don't have anybody besides Iggy to put on Kawhi and Iggy is a bit injured and old.

Our supporting cast is unpredictable. While that can be a nagative for when we're struggling as a team, it is also very difficult to gameplan against us and to focus on specific guys for the opposing defenses. Cause anyone from Kyle through Siakam, Ibaka, Gasol, Norman, Green and Freddy can drop 20 + points on you any given night and nobody knows who it will be. Not even our guys know it.

With the Warriors on the other hand it's clear as day. Focus on Curry and Thompson. Make it as tough as possible for them to get off their shots and limit their transition game as a whole. That is enough.

I believe we take it in 5 if KD is still not good to go after the first 2 games. The complexity might change drastically if KD is back and is 100%. But I doubt it. Even if he's back by game 2 or 3, I think he'll be very limited. In that case we take the series in 6 or 7.

Go Raptors!

[hotfuzz]

Watched the Portland series and every time Warriors were in a bit of lull offensively, Draymond just put his head down and wreaked havoc in transition. It'll be very very important to stop him in transition.

[DogeLover1234]

Should be a fun series. Will be interesting to see how Raps defense changes, first time the opposing teams star player doesnt try to live in the paint. Man Im excited.

[Scraptor]

We have to capitalize on KD's absence. If we just look at starters, roughly:

Curry > Kyle
Klay > Danny
KD = Kawhi
Green = Pascal
Cousins (post-injury) < Gasol

Maybe Kawhi is a little better than KD and maybe Green is a little better than Pascal. But they have the overall talent advantage. KD being out tips the balance in our favour imo.

After that it's going to take fierce team D and a ton of guts to beat these jerks.

[slaw]

Funny, I was thinking it would be good to start on the road and not have the pressure to take the first 2. After either a 2nd or Heaven forbid, a first game loss, the bandwagon will get a lot lighter....for the 8th time this post season lol

I take your point but it's still better to have home court, otherwise, you'd be trying to win game 6/7 in Oakland. Plus, not having to travel and winning last night sets us up good in terms of rest - Raps have had a way harder playoff run that GSW.

[G__Deane]

Funny, I was thinking it would be good to start on the road and not have the pressure to take the first 2. After either a 2nd or Heaven forbid, a first game loss, the bandwagon will get a lot lighter....for the 8th time this post season lol

[GOLDBLUM]

Homecourt advantage in the Finals. This is going to be fun.

Homecourt in the Finals.
The words vibrate in my head..

What an unbelievable navigation of the regular season to get us here... didn’t overpush to get ahead of Milwaukee, who we were able to eliminate without homecourt but worked just hard enough to give ourselves a fighting chance against the champs.

Love this script.

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[A.I]

Homecourt advantage in the Finals. This is going to be fun.

[c-troop]

Fun highlight real and a very close game considering who we had at the time.

Funny enough, if Cousins and Durant are out, that warriors' starting 5 is remarkably similar to their current team.

[Apollo]

Obviously gonna need to smother Steph and Klay out on the perimeter.

I'm looking forward to Steph v Kyle.

[Zainab]

We playing with house money now!

[Zainab]

leggoooooO!!

[planetmars]

What's Durant's status in this series?

Not much.. he's probably not going to be available for Game 1. Found this quote here:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...ors-better-him

The Warriors said Thursday that it is "unlikely" that Durant will be ready for Game 1 of the Finals on May 30 against either the Milwaukee Bucks or the Toronto Raptors. The Warriors remain vague on a target date for his return because Durant has yet to be cleared for on-court work, and nobody is certain how he'll respond once he clears the next hurdle in the rehab process.

Even so, Durant said he feels he is making progress on an injury that he admits is "worse" than those he has had in the past.

"I'm just taking it a second at a time," Durant said. "Every rep we do in the weight room, I just try to focus on that rep and not try to think too far down the line. 'Cause I don't really know too much about this injury. I'm leaving it the hands of the team doctors. I trust the direction they're trying to put me in."

[The Great One]

What's Durant's status in this series?