NBA Finals are very exciting this year. After losing at home against the Golden State Warriors, the Toronto Raptors hit back at the champs by defeating them in Oakland, 123-109. Though, we need to say that the hosts were without Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Kevon Looney.
The Raptors were controlling the match right from the start, and it was obvious that hosts can’t keep the tempo with Leonard and the crew. After the first quarter, the result was 36-29 for the guests who stayed confident throughout the rest of the match.
Nurse’s team made a push at the end of the third to reach plus 16, 96-80, but the Warriors replied with a 9-0 run. Still, they couldn’t do anything more, and Toronto responded with an 11-1 burst which decided this meeting.
Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points, adding 7 boards and 6 assists. Kyle Lowry was superb with 23 buckets, 9 assists, and 4 rebounds.
Pascal Siakam added 18 and 9 boards, while Marc Gasol and Danny Green played an excellent game. Gasol had 17 points with 7 boards, while Green scored 18 buckets, all of them behind the three-point line.
On the other side, Steph Curry was magnificent. The heart and soul of the Warriors scored 47 points, his playoff-high. Curry, had 8 boards and 7 assists besides that, but it wasn’t enough for his team to win.
Draymond Green was the second-best scorer with 17 points, while Andre Iguodala ended the night with 11. These three players were the only ones among the hosts with a double-digit number of points.
What was also interesting, was the incident in the early part of the final quarter, when one fan pushed Kyle Lowry in his shoulder. While trying to save the possession, Lowry jumped out of bounds into the seats, after which one reckless fan became very aggressive towards the Raptors’ point guard.
Game 4 is this Friday.
