Warriors remain confident reinforcements are coming for long NBA Finals
It was very clear in the early going. Stephen Curry was going to try to carry the Warriors’ offense in Wednesday’s Game 3 of the NBA Fins knowing the team would be without a pair of elite scoring forces who combined to average 53.7 points throughout these playoffs.
Curry had six of his team’s 10 makes in the first quarter, and he was the only Warrior to have more than one bucket. He scored 17 of Golden State’s points in that frame while the Raptors were getting a balanced effort -- which included much-needed scoring from Danny Green and Kyle Lowry throughout.
Toronto led 36-29 after the opening frame, which was emblematic of how the rest of Game 3 would play out. Curry went off for a playoff career-high 47 points, but the Raptors were balanced and efficient enough to let the two-time MVP work as the one-man band. No one else on the Warriors’ roster could come close to replicating what the defending champions were missing without Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson.
“You got to try to have “next man up” mentality, like we always say, and just go out and fight. We did that tonight,” Curry said after the 123-109 loss, giving Toronto a 2-1 series lead.
“We can play better, obviously better on the defensive end, but I liked the competitiveness that we had, understanding that we’re missing 50 points pretty much between KD and Klay. So we’ll adjust. And it’s a long series you know. It’s going to be fun for us.”
It remains to be seen when Durant and Thompson will return. Thompson was officially scratched just before tipoff because of his left hamstring strain from late in the Game 2 victory Sunday. Durant’s status for Wednesday was known earlier in the week, though coach Steve Kerr said before the game Durant had been ramping up his workouts and there’s a chance he could begin working in with his teammates on Thursday before a pivotal Game 4 on Friday.
To that end, the Warriors don’t appear too worried Game 3 was a harbinger of things to come for the remainder of the series. The players seem confident reinforcements are coming to resurrect one of the great dynasties in NBA history just in time for a third-straight title.
“When you assemble a team, everyone brings something different,” Draymond Green said, following a 17-point performance in which his four turnovers matched his four assists.
“But no one cares if guys are hurt. Everybody wants to see us lose. So I’m sure people are happy they’re hurt. We just got to continue to battle and win the next game, go back to Toronto, win Game 5, come back to Oracle, win Game 6 and then celebrate. Fun times ahead.”
The Warriors came back from 2-1 series deficits before, though it’s been a while. They fell behind to the Memphis Grizzlies during the group’s first championship run in 2014, and then again in the Finals against the LeBron James-led Cavaliers. In both instances, the Warriors reeled off three straight victories.
And in the Western Conference Finals in 2016, the team came back from a 3-1 deficit to unseat the Oklahoma City Thunder before ultimately luring Durant to the Bay Area later that summer. Though that series became an afterthought following the Golden State’s Game 7 loss to Cleveland in the Finals, culminating an epic collapse from a 3-1 advantage.
The Raptors have proven to be a worthy opponent deserving of the Warriors’ undivided attention. Danny Green, who broke out of a shooting slump to nail six crucial 3-pointers that helped keep the Warriors at bay, went to the Finals twice previously with the Spurs against James’ Heat teams in 2013 and 2014, including a five-game series victory the second time.
Same for Toronto’s best player, Kawhi Leonard, the 2013 Finals MVP, who paced his club with 30 points Wednesday, with 10 coming from the free-throw line while exploiting the Warriors’ defense missing two of its crucial perimeter defenders in Thompson and Durant. Kyle Lowry was also a thorn in Golden State’s side, nailing five 3s and scoring 23 points. He came into the game averaging just 14.2 points per game in these playoffs.
Kerr was asked afterwards if part of his thinking toward keeping Thompson out was being okay with losing the battle of Game 3 while focusing on winning the war of the series. Thompson was in uniform looking dejected on the bench after Kerr indicated Thompson was doing everything he could to return to keep his 120-straight playoff appearances intact.
“The whole point was to not risk a bigger injury that would keep him out of the rest of the series. So that was the decision we made, and I feel very comfortable with it,” he said.
“Never would have forgiven myself if I played him tonight and he had gotten hurt. So you live with the decision you make, you make a wise decision, the wisest one you can, and then you live with it and move forward. So the good thing is Klay has done well the last two days; now he has a couple more days to heal, and hopefully he’ll be out there on Friday.”
Said Curry: “I think wisdom prevailed in terms of this is a potentially seven-game series, and you would like to take advantage of tonight, but his overall health is important in terms of not taking away the rest of the series with something catastrophic happening. So hopefully he’s back for Game 4.”
If not, the Warriors dynasty might be in serious jeopardy knowing an all-time, 47-point performance from Curry isn’t enough to get a victory in one of the final games ever played at Oracle Arena.
This story was originally published June 6, 2019 at 10:25 AM.