NBA Finals Game 1
Toronto Raptors win Game 1 (118–109) and lead series 1–0 against the Golden State Warriors
For the Warriors, this was the first time in five years that the Finals’ series started on the road, the series had started in Oakland for the last four years. Moreover, the Finals moved to a new locale. The Warriors were not heading to the Quickens Loans Arena in Cleveland, they found themselves facing an entirely new enemy in the form of the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors are a different beast to the Cavs and the Warriors found that out last night as the Raptors clamped the Warriors’ offence and took Game 1.
Toronto as a basketball team have undergone a lot of adversity in terms of facing the Bucks and the Sixers, through the battles the Raptors have come together as a team that is tough to beat. In Game 1, the Raptors were sterling defensively in terms of making it hard for the Warriors to score. A lot of credit. has to go to Kyle Lowry for the defence that he played at the guard position. Lowry is not necessarily a stat-sheet stuffer, he is not expected to get thirty points and ten assists but he impacts the rest of the court through his hustle and defence. In Game 1, Kyle Lowry did really well in terms of bothering Curry and playing tight on-ball defence. On-ball defence is one of the toughest things to master against a player like Steph Curry who has all of these changes in direction and speed to beat the opposition. Lowry was superb in terms of staying with Steph and putting his body in front of Steph’s lane, he took the space away from Curry and forced him to work hard.
Curry had a great game offensively (8–18 FG, 4–9 3PA) with thirty four points but he did not get the points as easily as he got in the previous series. In the Portland series, Curry managed to find those pockets of space in which he could get shots off and devastate a defence. Against the Raptors, Lowry takes away that space and is a suffocating presence, Curry does not get those opportunities that are easy.
The effect on the great defence being played Lowry meant that on a lot of possessions, Klay Thompson ended with the ball in a situation where he had to create. Thompson is such a great shooter and has improved massively in terms of creating his own shot but in these situations, you would rather have Steph Curry with the ball. Klay ending up with ball being matched against Danny Green is not an easy match-up in terms of asking a person to go and create a shot. Klay did not play poorly by any means (8–17 FG, 3–6 3PA) for twenty points but it was not easy for Klay. Danny Green stuck to Klay and poked the ball away on more than a few possessions, these little defensive plays are invaluable against a team like the Warriors. It takes the offence out of rhythm and extends the shot clock by a few precious seconds. Those seconds make all the difference in terms of increasing the pressure to start forcing shots to beat the shot clock.
The Raptors having two above average defenders at the guard spot is incredibly valuable against a team like the Warriors. The Raptors can use both defenders to switch the coverages. Danny Green is so good at using his length to bother smaller defenders and force inefficient shots, it is possible that Nick Nurse uses this skill against Curry later in the series. In previous series, we have seen Steph struggle against lengthy defenders, JR Smith and Iman Shumpert are two of the best examples of this. In addition to this, Kyle Lowry’s core strength provides a different challenge for Steph Curry. Lowry is built powerfully and is hard to move off his spot for this reason, his physical strength gives him the durability to fight through screens and stay with his man.
Kawhi played excellent defence on Draymond Green as the primary defender. Kawhi is one of the most dominant defenders in the NBA and he was matched up against another former DPOY in the form of Green. Kawhi being the primary defender on Draymond was an excellent strategy call by Nick Nurse in terms of suffocating Golden State offensively. The Warriors run a lot of offence through Draymond so that the Splash Brothers can play off ball and his talents are fully utilised. Leonard was highly effective in terms of taking away passing lanes for Draymond and forcing him to try high-risk passes that would result in turnovers. The usually efficient passer that Green is turned over the ball six times which resulted in an AT.O of 1.66. Green has an assist to turnover ratio of 2.6:1 during the entirety of the 2019 season, the variance between his Game 1 ratio and his average ratio indicates that Kawhi made his passing game inefficient. Kawhi being the primary defender on Draymond Green should be something that Nick Nurse sticks with for the rest of the series in terms of playing effective defence. Against a team like the Warriors, you cannot stop them scoring but you have to make their offence as inefficient as possible.
The Raptors also had a great game offensively in terms of getting production up and down their roster. In this game, Kawhi did not have a great game from the field in terms of shooting the ball but he did really well in terms of getting his points at the line. Leonard is such an efficient free throw shooter and he made the Warriors pay by tacking on another ten points on the line off twelve free throws. Moreover, Kawhi has developed such a good passing game off the dribble which has been a weapon during the play-offs. Leonard is superb in terms of kicking the ball out of a drive to the rim and finding a shooter who can knock down the shot whether it be Lowry, Gasol or Green. The Warriors played a great game of basketball in terms of defending Kawhi Leonard but he still played an efficient game.
Marc Gasol played brilliantly offensively in terms of scoring the ball at a good clip. Gasol has had a difficult time since joining the Raptors, he was incredibly deferential to Leonard or Lowry at the start of his tenure. Over the last few games, Marc Gasol has found the game which made him one of the best centres in the NBA when he played in Memphis. In Memphis, Marc was a varied offensive scorer who could hurt defences from anywhere on the floor, against the Warriors his size and skill presented an issue. Gasol scored twenty points (6–10 FG, 2–4 3PA) and played with his usual craftiness. He found the correct pass more often than not and chose the right moments to attack the defence so that he could score efficiently. Marc was such a big reason for the Raptors doing well on both ends for the Raptors against the Warriors, he played great defence off switches while also taking advantage of his defensive match-up.
Steve Kerr needs to think about changing the line-up so that he can get a better match-up on Marc Gasol. Jordan Bell is a good young forward who is rapidly developing in terms of defensive intelligence but his frame does not match-up against Gasol. Bell is just 6'9 and gives up inches to the taller Gasol (7'1). It has meant that the Raptors can move the ball down to Gasol and let him shoot over the top of his primary match-up. It could be wise for Steve Kerr to bring a bigger body like Kevon Looney into the starting lineup so that they can defend Marc Gasol more effectively.
The huge reason for the Game 1 victory was Pascal Siakam. Siakam was somewhat of a question mark coming into this series, he is arguably the least experienced member of the Raptors starting five and his rapid rise does mask some flaws. Siakam is not a comfortable jump shooter and can be prone to make little defensive errors. It was expected by many pundits that the Warriors would attack Siakam using Draymond Green and expose some of Pascal’s flaws. Moreover, Siakam is not necessarily an experienced basketball player. He only began to take basketball seriously at the age of sixteen which is way later than most players who make the league. However, Pascal came out and proved why he is a strong contender to win Most Improved Player. He scored thirty two points on (14–17 FG) off great looks. Siakam’s energy and size meant that he was consistently able to get great looks off the drive at the rim, he took advantage of the match-up against Iguodala who does not have the same level of agility that Siakam possesses.
Game 1 was a great opening salvo for the series as Toronto defends home-court and takes the first game of the series against the Warriors for the first time in this five year run. The interesting item to follow will be whether Toronto can continue to get the same level of production from the rest of their team. The rest of the team has been inconsistent across the play-offs as a whole and the Raptors’ having lapses of inconsistency will hurt against a team like the Warriors. The Warriors need to make a few adjustments so that they can even out match-ups. It could be an interesting idea to bring Looney into the starting lineup so that they have a little more length to match up against Toronto’s more traditional big men.
Game 2: June 2 2019.
Reported at 31/05/2019.
