When Paris battled against France in the civil war of 1871, the City of Light had an overwhelming numerical superiority at the beginning of the war. France had just lost a war against Prussia. Paris was ready to fight, with hundreds of thousands of national guardsmen frothing inside the city, who had never entered the fray against Prussia. On March 18, the city declared itself independent, called the Paris Commune. On April 1, 27 000 Parisian soldiers marched on Versailles, where the national government sat after it had fled Paris. Parisians assumed that because of their vast numbers, the day would be won with a bloodless victory. But they were disorganized. Many hadn’t brought food. Others had never seen combat. There were no unified orders between commanders. When Versailles troops shelled the oncoming soldiers, they broke ranks and fled to Paris.
The Toronto Raptors boasted overwhelming numerical superiority coming into game three of the NBA Finals. Despite some bumps and bruises, Toronto had a technically clean injury sheet for one of the first times all year. The Raps spent almost the entire regular season missing players for this or that game, with all-stars Kawhi Leonard out for load management and Kyle Lowry missing games to injury. But with OG Anunoby returning after complications from an emergency appendectomy, the Raptors are finally whole in the NBA Finals.
The Golden State Warriors exist on the other end of the spectrum. All-NBA players Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson were unavailable for game three, out with injury. Kevon Looney, the Warriors’ best center, was also injured. As a result, Steph Curry was the Warriors’ only player who can create his own shot. The Warriors must have known that game three was almost surely a schedule loss, if those can exist in the NBA Finals.
“[Our players] played really, really hard and gave it everything they had and just ran into a better team tonight,” said Steve Kerr after game three. “[Toronto] outplayed us. They deserved it. I’m very proud of our effort, and now we just got to bounce back and hopefully get back here in here Friday night and hopefully get a little healthier and get some guys back.”
In a strange turn of events, the mighty Warriors were outmatched in the talent portion of the evening. Draymond Green is a brilliant player, sure, but he is not a scoring dynamo. Andre Iguodala was miscast as a primary scorer when he was in his 20s, let alone in the twilight of his career that he now exists. DeMarcus Cousins is greatly limited because of his return from injury. And so Curry was alone as an elite scorer, facing the onslaught of Toronto’s star-studded roster. For those who’ve been watching the Warriors romp through the field for half a decade, it was a shock to see the Warriors so outgunned in the field. Steph Curry must have understood Achilles, previously so invincible, when he stared down Paris’ bowstring.
The thing is, Curry almost turned the tables and still notched a win.
Curry scored 47 points on only 34 possessions used. The Raptors knew what was coming their way, and they were still almost subsumed by Curry’s singular tidal wave. That the Warriors managed 109 points again – bizarrely for the third consecutive game – with Quinn Cook, Andrew Bogut, and Alfonzo McKinnie combining for 66 minutes is both a testament to Curry’s unique talents and a condemnation of the Raptors’ defensive performance.
Yes, the Raptors won. Yes, they have regained home court. Yes, they are two wins away from an NBA Championship. Their effort and execution in game three was enough against the zombie Warriors. But it won’t be enough going forward.
The Warriors have reinforcements on the way. Klay Thompson will play in game four. Kevon Looney was initially ruled out of the playoffs with a collarbone fracture, but word out of Golden State is that there’s a chance he will return towards the end of the series. Kevin Durant won’t play in game four, but at least externally, the Warriors insist that he is coming.
They may currently be licking their wounds, fighting valiantly with limbs bandaged, but they won’t be for long. The Warriors will again become the dynasty that has smote the NBA in its ruin.
Toronto can’t repeat its performance from game three and expect to win the title.
On the very first play of the game, Toronto fell for Golden State’s staple play, the split cut. For the uninitiated, a split cut involves the Warriors entering the ball into the post, and then the shooter uses a screen from the initial passer to cut across the arc above the post. The point, though, is that the Raptors are not the uninitiated. They should very much know that Curry is the threat on this play, yet Marc Gasol freezes and is occupied by the threat of DeMarcus Cousins rolling into the paint after the screen. (Gasol usually doesn’t fall for the fluff of plays like this.) On the very first play of game three, Toronto gave up a wide-open 3 to Steph Curry, which is about the most egregious error a defense can make.
Later, Toronto’s other center, Serge Ibaka, conceded another wide-open triple to Curry by playing multiple steps below the arc on a high pick-and-roll. This is elementary stuff, and the Raptors screwed it up.
(Ibaka would later foul Curry on an attempted 3, committing another unforgivable basketball sin. Following that, however, he morphed into prime Bill Russell, blocking everything in sight – some late, but nevertheless – rebounding like a madman, and making zero mistakes. Ma Fuzzy Chef giveth and Ma Fuzzy Chef taketh.)
Fred VanVleet was Toronto’s best defender on the night, hounding Curry in the half-court, but even he was involved in some miscommunication errors during switches with Lowry and Danny Green.
The results from the offensive side were excellent, with the Raptors scoring 1.19 points per possession in the half-court, per Cleaning the Glass. But the process of the offense, from a decision-making standpoint, was a little less positive. From the 7:42 mark in the second quarter to the 2:57 mark, Toronto failed to score a single point. To go almost five minutes without a point in an NBA Finals game is a poor sign. Even worse, the Raptors’ offense simply wasn’t creating good shots. Players were tentative, and the offense seemed to meander without hunting advantages.
After the Raptors built a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter, the Warriors cut it to single digits 16 separate times during the rest of the game. However, the Raptors didn’t put the Dubs away until the fourth quarter, after Curry had cut the lead to seven with free throws. The optimist would credit Toronto for always having a counter-punch.
Lowry was brilliant, and he was a major reason why Toronto continually pulled away from the Dubs. He finished with 23 points on 19 used possessions. He created well for himself, sticking pull-up jumpers no matter the defender. Even though Kawhi Leonard laboured throughout the game, often seeming physically unable to create separation with the dribble, he still finished with an efficient 30 points.
A pessimist would point out that the Raptors only scored so well because the Warriors fielded a variety of poor defenders. Lowry spent most of the game guarded by Shaun Livingston and Quinn Cook, although he scored well when guarded by Green as well, so that’s an unadulterated positive. After failing to take advantage in game two, Toronto drove right around Cousins whenever he was on the court in game three. Leonard and Pascal Siakam feasted in the paint without any rim protection to daunt them. The Warriors’ defensive talent was as limited as its offensive talent in game three.
I am certainly being too critical. The Raptors can only play the team in front of them, and they spent the majority of game three walloping the poor team in front of them. The Raptors have spent this entire postseason rising to whichever challenge has been presented, so this is an unfair criticism in a certain sense. To that end, the Raptors lead 2-1 in the dang NBA Finals. This is uncharted territory for the franchise, and they are exceeding any reasonable expectations. But the point remains, they will need to improve going forward. Toronto’s performance in game three was enough to win game three. The same level of performance won’t be enough to win going forward, especially with the threat of a fully operational Warriors dynasty looming.
The Communard sortie was repelled on April 1, 1871. They underestimated their opponents, assuming they would win by sheer virtue of numbers. The attack failed spectacularly. Paris by and large stopped fighting to secure the city, and France was allowed to regroup and reassemble their forces. By the time France broke through the walls of Paris on May 21, the invaders fielded nearly 200 000 soldiers. The Paris Commune – an uncharted political and social movement for workers – was defeated within the span of a few months because participants were disorganized and underestimated their foes. On March 18, it seemed as though Paris was in total control of the situation, but they soon squandered their lead. Up 2-1 in the Finals, and in an uncharted situation for the franchise, the Toronto Raptors should not rest on their laurels.
