Steph Curry's Brilliance Can't Save Depleted Warriors in Game 3 Loss vs. Raptors
The Toronto Raptors wasted no time seizing home-court advantage right back in the 2019 NBA Finals.
Toronto defeated the short-handed Golden State Warriors 123-109 in Wednesday's Game 3 at Oracle Arena, handing the two-time defending champions their first home loss since the first round. With a 2-1 series lead, the Raptors are now two wins away from their first title in franchise history.
All five Raptors starters scored in double figures, including Kawhi Leonard (30 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals, two blocks) and Kyle Lowry (23 points, nine assists, five made three-pointers).
Stephen Curry did his best to save a Warriors team playing without Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney and finished with 47 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but it wasn't enough thanks to a poor showing elsewhere. Draymond Green (17 points) and Andre Iguodala (11 points) were the only other Golden State players to score in double figures.
DeMarcus Cousins, Rest of Warriors Supporting Cast Prove Unworthy of Steph's Brilliance
This is not the lineup Golden State was supposed to trot out for the NBA Finals.
The all-time-great combination of Curry, Thompson, Durant and Green was cut in half with Durant still out with the calf injury he suffered in the second round against the Houston Rockets and Thompson out with the hamstring injury he suffered in Game 2.
What's more, Kevon Looney is out with a fracture of the first costal cartilage on his rib cage, and DeMarcus Cousins was laboring through his quad injury.
Thompson's status was the latest development, as head coach Steve Kerr told reporters the shooting guard was a game-time decision left up to the training staff. That staff clearly had the rest of the Finals in mind with a potentially lengthy series on the horizon, but the decision gave the Raptors a notable single-game talent advantage.
Given that reality, the only way Golden State was going to win Wednesday's contest was with an all-around effort to take some of the pressure off Curry's shoulders.
So much for that.
Curry was the only complete playmaking threat for much of the game. The offense ran through him on seemingly every possession, and he responded by pouring in 17 points in the first quarter alone and 25 by halftime. He needed just a sliver of space to unleash the most dangerous perimeter shot in league history and didn't hesitate to facilitate whenever he drew multiple defenders.
He danced through the defense when it pressed up on his shot and did everything in his power to keep the home team within striking distance with the greenest of green lights whenever the ball was in his hands.
Even with Curry's overall brilliance, the Warriors found themselves battling from behind throughout the contest thanks to a lackluster performance from Cousins and the supporting cast.
Cousins, in particular, stands out because this was his chance to prove himself to Warriors fans. The team signed him with June in mind even though he was going to miss the start of the season recovering from a torn Achilles, and it never needed him more than Wednesday.
While he was less than 100 percent, he's still a four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection who was healthy enough to start. He proved capable of making an impact with a much-needed double-double in Game 2, helping Golden State steal home-court advantage in the process.
But Cousins was nowhere to be found as a secondary or tertiary option in Game 3, which put all the more weight on Curry's shoulders.
He finished with just four points on an ugly 1-of-7 shooting from the field with three turnovers, which allowed Toronto's interior defenders to shift even more attention toward No. 30 and Green in an effort to clog penetration lanes and stifle pick-and-rolls.
It wasn't just Cousins' failure, as Shaun Livingston, Jordan Bell, Jonas Jerebko and Alfonzo McKinnie struggled to make an impact while Green was a mere 2-of-6 from deep.
Thompson's absence and the supporting cast's issues were felt on more than just the offensive side, where the shooting guard typically thrives with his deadly three-point shot. The five-time All-Star was a second-team All-Defensive selection this season and often guards the opponent's best perimeter playmaker.
There were stretches during which he could have picked up any combination of Leonard, Pascal Siakam, Lowry, Danny Green or Fred VanVleet, but Toronto continued to pour in the points whenever the Warriors threatened.
This was the supporting cast's moment to shine and all of them—Cousins included—let Curry down.
Danny Green Will be Far More Than a Footnote in Raptors History
If the Raptors win the championship, the narrative will write itself.
Trading DeMar DeRozan for Leonard allowed them to move on from regular-season success and playoff shortcomings to become a championship-caliber team that could finally get over the hump. However, Green would be far more than a footnote in that narrative.
While it was easy to see him as a throw-in added to help facilitate the trade, he was a 2014 champion on the San Antonio Spurs with 100 playoff games on his resume at the start of the 2018-19 season. He was battle-tested against LeBron James from back-to-back Finals clashes with the Miami Heat and is not someone who will back down from the marquee stage.
Despite his resume, Green shot an abysmal 17.4 percent from three-point range and 18.8 percent from the field in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks and looked nothing like the veteran leader who, at times, thrived in San Antonio.
He also shot just 35.7 percent from deep in the first round and 37.1 percent in the second—well below his career postseason mark of 39.9 percent.
It would have been easy for Green to play a secondary role and lose confidence heading into the Finals after those showings, but he wasted little time changing the storyline with a combined five triples in the first two games and six in Wednesday's victory.
The veteran also delivered in critical moments with a chase-down block of Quinn Cook in the fourth quarter when Golden State was attempting to make a run and back-to-back threes in the third quarter to extend an eight-point lead to 14.
Entering this postseason, Toronto had never been to an NBA Finals, let alone won one. If it defeats the mighty Warriors and Green is a major part of the victory, he will forever be a Raptors legend regardless of his earlier postseason struggles.
He took a major step toward ensuring that reality in Game 3.
What's Next?
The series continues at Oracle Arena with Friday's Game 4.
