The Finals are in game three tonight. The question that is running through my head is if I am rooting for the Raptors or the golden state warriors. I am going to be honest here, since the warriors put my blazers out in 4, there isn’t any love lost. But, before I am too hasty on if I like someone or not, I think I should maybe do a little comparison of the stars that are involved here.
First up…. Raptors
The raptors only chance is that they get hot with the other guys. They will need a monster game from Kawhi Leonard to have a chance against the warriors. We will see what happens here, but is very clear that the raptors need a combination of Danny Green, Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam to get hot. I know that Kawhi is saying the right things, but these guys must get this done if they want to keep him on the team in the future. Honestly, I don’t see a situation where he stays. But, If he was going to stay it would require them to win the championship. Gasol has been a monster at times, and will need to come up big. The thing that we have here is alot of good players surrounding a great player. It reminds me alot of my Blazers. The problem is that the guys mentioned above here are significantly better than the “other guys” on the Blazers. With the exception of CJ who we all know is better than he gets credit for. Regardless I see them as having a chance if they can get the complementary pieces going.
Next up… The Warriors.
Kevin Durant. If he was just playing the warriors might be unstoppable right now. His injury changed the landscape no matter how you look at it. Some people are saying that this team is better without him, which if you know anything about basketball is absolutely silly. He is the BEST PLAYER ON THE PLANET right now. LeBron might also have a claim at some point again, but he is getting up there in age. This injury has to be a ton worse than they are letting on because he has been out too long. The big problem now will be integrating him back into the fold. Getting him back into the offense, especially because they are going to have Cousins playing the lion share of the minutes with Looney out. He and Cousins haven’t played together for a while. I just don’t know if him coming back will throw them off for the short term. If they win game 3, him coming back poses no risk, because I think it might be a game, or a half until he is back to normal. The question is if that happens does Golden State minus all the other injuries able to be good enough to give him the support he would need to win again. I think if Klay Thompson is right, they have a good chance at winning. But, he has a hamstring injury, and how many times have we seen that cause problems for NFL players. Just alot of questions here. I normally don’t buy into the media story lines when they say that a team as dominant as this one will have a chance to lose… but you never know what happens.
The Verdict
I think that the Raptors win Game 3. And if they get that spit in GS, it is possible they can win. But, they basically will need to win 1 of the next two, and then close it out with two wins. I just don’t know if I would trust them in a game 7. I am picking them to win though. I am hopeful it will be in 6. But, who knows it could end up in 7. I think this series is much more of a toss up than people believe. We will revisit this and see if I am right. Who the heck knows!!