The Raptors are dominating the NBA Finals but for six minutes in Game 2, but those six minutes changed everything.
For five minutes and 40 seconds to open the second half of Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the Warriors scored 18 unanswered points. Golden State flustered the Raptors with some defensive tweaks — putting Klay Thompson on Kawhi Leonard full-time, throwing Andre Iguodala on Pascal Siakam, and moving Draymond Green onto Kyle Lowry to give Toronto a different, more difficult look. The Raptors generated just a few good looks out of it, and couldn’t find the bottom of the bucket until Nick Nurse subbed Fred VanVleet in for Danny Green and the bench hero hit a three to stem the bleeding.
But the damage was done. The Warriors had turned a 5-point halftime deficit into a 13-point lead. They wouldn’t trail again.
In those six minutes, Golden State scored 18 points on 13 possessions (1.38 points per possession), shooting 8-12 from the floor. They, of course, held the Raptors to zero points on 12 possessions (that’d be 0 points per possession), shooting 0-8 from the floor. Uncharacteristically, the Raptors couldn’t get any offensive rebounds (just one official o-board off those eight misses, and it was a jump ball recovery after Iguodala tied up Siakam on an attempt at the rim) and turned the ball over a bunch (five, including two sloppy Kyle Lowry giveaways and two Marc Gasol moving screens).
Those six minutes decided the game. For the rest of the game — the other 42 minutes— the Raptors outscored the Warriors by 13 points. Toronto had just 10 other turnovers in the game, and while the shooting was rough most of the night, the Raptors scored 104 points on 88 possessions (1.18 points per possession) outside of the Warriors’ run, compared to Golden State’s 91 points on 87 possessions (1.04 points per possession).
That 6-minute run wasn’t the difference between Toronto winning or losing. It was the difference between Toronto winning comfortably and losing.
But this is what the Warriors do.
Momentum-shifting blitzes like this is what this era of Warriors basketball is famous for, especially in the third quarter. It’s only fitting that Golden State tied the series on a good 6-minute run despite not playing terribly well at any other point in the first two games of the NBA Finals.
Consider that the Raptors are +22 in the other 90 minutes in the series and -18 in that single six-minute stretch. Because of that stretch, they’ve lost home court advantage and go to Oakland tied 1-1, needing to win one on the road to feel alive in the series.
Consider that the Raptors are that six-minute stretch away from being up 2-0 in the NBA Finals on the two-time defending champs.
Consider that the Raptors are that six-minute stretch from being the biggest story of the year, maybe, in North American sports.
What a shame that Toronto, like so many teams before them, couldn’t find a way to slow the Warriors or get points on the board during one of those characteristic, well-plotted runs.
It’s a real testament to Steve Kerr and his coaching staff, along with the brains all over the roster, that these runs always happen in the third quarter. Kerr has never been afraid of making adjustments and taking risks. He has an excellent staff who always seem to know what fresh looks to give opponents. He has the smart and talented players to pull it off.
Consider what an asset it is to have defenders as smart as Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. Kerr was able to trust Green to defend Lowry in the third quarter — and Greenwore outLowry— with Iguodala marking the bigger, faster Pascal Siakam. Klay Thompson is strong for his size, and he was fearless in defending the rock-solid Kawhi Leonard. Eventually, after the damage was done, Kawhi figured out how to attack a defense that conceded lanes to him. (He feasted especially once Alfonzo McKinnie had the job of guarding him.) But because Leonard’s one offensive weakness is passing off the pick and roll, and because Iguodala and Green are brilliant and merciless, the Raptors just couldn’t do anything in that 18-0 stretch, and neither Siakam or Lowry could get it going at all.
Green and Iguodala allow the Warriors to avoid getting burned by Stephen Curry’s size (especially as he felt under the weather) and DeMarcus Cousins’ recovery speed on defense. Marc Gasol has played well against Cousins over the course of their careers, but this is both a different Gasol and a different Cousins. Boogie hasn’t been interested in trying to score much in the Finals as he recovers from a second major leg injury. Whenever Cousins was involved in a pick-and-roll, he typically laid off a little to give shooters space; Toronto didn’t make him pay much for that. That has to change if Cousins continues to play big minutes, depending on Kevon Looney’s injury status.
All the Raptors can hope for now is that the six-minute stretch doesn’t get in their heads if they are able to play well and grab a lead in Game 3 or 4. It must be intimidating to face such a decorated team, one that you can dominate for 90 minutes of a series, only to lose your entire advantage in six. You know it’s coming, you see it coming, you’ve studied for the moment that it comes ... and there’s nothing you can do about it. You have to let it run its course roughshod over you and hope you can recover.
Can Toronto recover? We’ll see.