That was a seriously loud and jacked up environment tonight and it felt like the Warriors got a little rattled by it. If it wasn't for the refs bailing Curry out repeatedly on a number of soft calls where he flailed away at minimal contact, that game would have been over midway through the 4th quarter. The Raptors simply badly outplayed them in the half court. And maybe the more surprising thing is that it didn't take an effort too out of the ordinary. That is who they are defensively. And on offense, Kawhi was very mediocre by his standards (although he made a few massive shots to stop the Warriors' momentum at separate times) and Lowry didn't shoot well either.

This is going to be competitive.
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Warriors are also going to have to adjust on Siakam and I'm sure they will. The 76ers and Bucks figured out how to guard him (you have to first limit him in transition and then play far off him in the half court which Draymond was not doing regularly for whatever reason).
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Yeah, but even though the numbers are pretty good, Kawhi hardly had his best stuff. If Gasol and Siakam step back a bit and Leonard and Lowry step up, that’s probably a trade off the Raptors would be good with. I still think smart $ is Warriors in 6 or 7 but at least Toronto got half the wins they need to make this a potentially great series.
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Uh....Kawhi had a bad game scoring. So how did everything go right? If he had a normal shooting night the Raptors win going away.

Siakam and Gasol just did what role players should do in the playoffs. Pick up slack when the superstar isn't at his best.
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Not having the 2nd best player in the NBA (after Leonard ) is pretty significant.
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That’s a debatable ranking(top 5, to be sure)but my point is, it’s not like Durant joined the Suns or Knicks and carried them to a Finals. Beating the Splash Brothers and company would be no small feat. Plus I’m sure Raptors fans(not tons, relatively speaking)and Warriors haters(very many)wouldn’t GAF who was on the court for GS if Toronto was to pull it off(still doubtful).
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Toronto has a legit home court advantage... I think that fact was getting overlooked when people were predicting a Golden State sweep.
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I'm surprised at how much I really like this matchup. The raptors play aggressive D. I always thought the cavs looked their best against GS when they sold out on defense. Curry can't be stopped, but playoff D can fluster him. I thought JR Smith got way too little credit for how well he played on D against Golden state every year. Was really smart for the new look raptors to build around defense this year. I actually really liked how they matched up against GS last night.
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How did LeBron do?
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And yet it was still Cleveland's fault for not having more talent despite the fact that LeBron ran the team.
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Ratings have been way down without him so....


He did a lot?
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TV ratings for NBA Finals game one down 18% compared to last year and the lowest TV ratings for an NBA Finals game one in 10 years.
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The ratings will get better game by game.

At least we’re not in for another sweep :-)
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LeBron effect. When you're missing the greatest basketball player ever and one of the greatest athletes in any sport for the first time in a decade, you're going to take a hit.
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Are we talking his first run there or his second run? First run it was Cleveland's fault (Mo Williams was legitimately the 2nd best player on those teams), second run less so (although LeBron did the job anyway before Kyrie bolted).
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