Preamble
Welcome to Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors. We start our series in Canada where the Raptors will have home court advantage. They will need all the help they can get as this will be their first Finals in team history while the Warriors will be going for their fourth championship in the last five years alone.
The other good news for the Raps is that they have the best player on either team with Kawhi Leonard who has been an absolute monster both offensively and defensive this postseason. Meanwhile, the Warriors will be without Kevin Durant—still nursing a strained calf—whose return to the court is questionable. What that mainly means is that this game could already be a must win for the Raptors, who still have to manage to beat the core of a Warriors team that was already dominant before Durant main them nearly-invincible: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
So, welcome to Scotiabank Arena for what’s hopefully at least a competitive Game. Last season’s Finals were something of a snooze and considering the fact that the Warriors just swept the Portland Trail Blazers way back in the Western Conference Finals, there’s a chance that they could breeze their way towards finalizing a three-peat. Well, we won’t know until the games are played and this first one will start around 9:00pm EST although we’ll be back before then. As always, you can contribute to the liveblog either by emailing us (at [email protected]) or tweeting (@HunterFelt) and we’ll post your comments, questions and Drake jokes here.
Hunter will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how our writers see the series unfolding:
The winner will be …
Golden State in six. Kawhi is great, but the Raptors are too reliant on Lowry and Siakam to keep up with the Warriors’ star-studded cast, with or without Durant. Oliver Connolly
Golden State in six. Yes, the Raptors will win the first two of the games of the series at home but Durant will return by Game 3 and will spur the Warriors beat the Raptors in four straight. Fittingly enough, the Raptors did the same thing to the Milwaukee Bucks in the East finals. Hunter Felt
Golden State in six. The Raptors are entering on a head of steam and the Warriors are looking somewhat vulnerable with Durant, Iguodala and Cousins dealing with various injuries. But not even another Jordan-esque performance from Leonard will be enough to keep the Dubs from capturing a third straight title. and fourth in five years, in the last ever game in the history of Oracle Arena. Bryan Graham