TORONTO — Now that the Raptors have taken a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Everybody and their Uncle LeRoy and Cousin Man-Man is sitting on the edge of their seats to see how the Warriors will respond in Game 2. Game 1 has been sliced and diced a thousand different ways to come up with an explanation as to why Toronto got out of the joint with a win.
I’ve heard that they played smart physical basketball, they beat them in the transition game, they limited Golden State to fewer shots, they played better defense and so on and so forth.
At the end of the day Toronto was still in a rhythm in Game 1 coming out of the Eastern Conference Finals whereas Golden State had been sitting for a week and a half after sprinting through Portland in a 4 game sweep. The Warriors looked every bit of it and even with that they only loss by 9 points. That’s a problem for the Raptors going forward.
Game 2 should look significantly different from Game 1 for the Warriors. The bear has been poked and he’s wide awake looking for picnic baskets at this point. Boyz doubting them is the worst thing that cats could be doing right now. They’ve been here more than any other team in modern basketball history. They’re playing in their fifth straight Finals. LeBron played in 8 straight on three different teams. Nobody’s done that since the Boston Celtics played in 8 straight from 1959-66 when they won 8 straight titles.
Losing Game 1 wasn’t a reason to panic and trust me, they haven’t. They’ve been on this stage before and welcome it. Toronto has to figure out how to keep the bear from tearing up the tent tonight because it’s going to be overwhelming for them for sure. The Splash Brothers will activate and Draymond will, well, be Draymond. Boyz are going to get the full throttle of him and even Drake will get some too. Put your seat belts on because it should be interesting Up North at 8pm Eastern. Stop me when I start lyin’!
