The Great GSW

People seem to forget.... That warriors without kd has never beaten a quality team in the playoffs. 

The best team this group has beaten is a depleted cavs, kawhi less spurs, choke city clippers and ok, kd westbrook okc was a quality team... 

All im saying is...dont overestimate what these guys can do.

They beat the teams that were in front of them. That's all you can do. The Raptors came out of the East. The East is consistantly weaker than the West and it shows in the yearly head to head record. Does that speak to them as a team? Will it diminish them as a team that they beat a injury depleted Warriors? A ring in a ring.

There's not one team in the West excluding Golden State that could of beaten the Bucks & 76ers this year. The East is much tougher conference than people give it credit for.

Agreed. It dsnt diminish either of them as a team. All im saying is... This GSW team without KD is only a shell of the greatest team of all time. This is to warn people against the idea in their mind that these guys are unbeatable. 

This is actually a really good raptors team. Talented,deep and well coached. Id still give the coaching edge to gsw, but thats the only edge they have... They dont have better talent without KD

The west other then GS, is kind of like iso ball, star going at it play 

while the east is team play where your star isnt always the main scorer

interesting how this became 

Go look up Milwaukees regular season losses and make that statement again. I know they had the best overall record and at times looked like a juggernaut but their youth and inexperience would've gotten the better of them against a lot of teams.

I stand by my statement, both teams would of beaten the other seven Western Conference teams including Houston.

Raptors are the better team it's just difficult for die hard Warriors fans to admit it. 

They are only better than the injured Warriors team.

I'm pulling for Toronto and I think they will win this year. However, no way they beat the W's at full health. Toronto is the better team without KD, Thompson, Looney, and the slug like Cousins but not if they are not injured. 

Just because you stand by it doesn't make it true. I believe Milwaukee got beat twice by Phoenix this year. You can believe what you want but the Western Conference has the edge in head to head year after year.

Yikes it's only a matter of time before the *asterik* conversation ends up here.

The playoffs are a gruel, teams are constantly hurt! How have the raptors managed to stay healthy playing a 7 and 6 game series before the finals while GS is so riddled with injuries. News flash Looney is not a difference maker, he wouldn't even get playing time on the Raptors. Demarcus Cousin was a risk coming off of achilles season ender last year. Iggy playing with a limp but still hitting shots and playing decent defense. Thompson misses one game and a quarter and that is supposed to derail the team? Kevin Durant is not D2D, he has a torn Achilles and his comeback is just a mind game to mess with the raptors coaches match-ups and game plan. Durant's EGO is so huge though he may comeback for game 5 to try and will the team back from the brink and look like the hero before he runs off.

Why are the Raptors being discredited for an organization who made a deeper team?

I wouldn't say the Raptors are the deeper team. Ibaka is great and I know Van Vleet is a fan favorite but who else can you point to? Norman Powell? Linsanity? I'm not knocking this team but they wouldn't beat anyone if Kawhi went down. They wouldn't even beat anyone minus Lowry with Kawhi still there. They are not deep. They have a good starting lineup and two quality reserves.

And we just had someone say Durant has a torn achilles and he might come back for game 5 to prove a point in the same thread.

Man I had to sign into an account that I haven't used in years just to tell y'all that you do not know basketball. GSW is down 2-1 with $100M sitting down last game and you guys start spouting off about how they've never played anybody tough.

The Raptors went into Oracle and took a game. Tremendous. Great work. The Raptors beat Steph Curry and the teletubbies. Jerebko wouldn't get minutes on any other team in the league let alone in the finals. 

The Warriors went through a healthy Chris Paul/James Harden/Clint Capella team... THIS YEAR. In one of their previous title runs they had to go through San Antonio and Houston in the same year. Toronto fans are some of the worst in the NBA. If you think the Raptors are going to cake walk to a 3-1 lead and win the trophy at home you guys are crazy. GSW defends home court tonight and may even steal it back in Toronto. 

FYI the Rockets who aren't a tough team swept the series with Toronto this year. 

Big deal their sitting at home and considering dismantling a team that can't beat the Warriors. 

Take notes Houston, the Raptors are showing you how to beat Golden State with their ferocious defense! 

Yep, they're showing them. Step one: Make sure too of their biggest stars along with another part time starter is injured. I'm not going to discredit the Raptors but they would be down 2-1 with a healthy Klay. 

Durant wasn't even in the last series and they still beat a tough Portland team, which would be no easy task for the Raptors to beat even on full strength. Kawhi has been hobbling on one leg and still double teamed. Lowry has a cast on his thumb, pretty significant for their number one ball handler. Injuries effect everyone at this end stage, are we discounting GSW championship where Kyrie was hurt for Cleveland? I'm putting an Asterisk on that series just as much as this one!

If anything all this injury talk in the media and from their team is making them look soft and is already making excuses incase they lose. This is the finals, if you are a superstar and you can stand, your on the court. Many players have come out and disclosed injuries after the playoffs, poor Klay and his tweaked hammy, look at Kawhi against Milwakee taking over on one leg if you want to see heart.

It has nothing to do with the actual player injured. Think about the MONEY. The Warriors are missing $50M with KD sitting. The Raptors have an extra $50M on the court every game. 

I never discounted anything the Raptors did and I never said anything about an asterisk. As I have said many times, all you can do is play the team in front of you. My post is in no way a critique on the Raptors. It's a critique on self-assured Raptor fans who after simply taking home court advantage back are askewing facts to fit their narrative. "The Raptors are just better! They're deeper! Blah, blah, blah." And I get it. They've been disappointed so many times and it feels so close. All I can say to that is you better hope they finish the job.

Yeah, Siakam makes 1.2 million per season. Is he 1/50th the player of Durant? Considering all the bad contracts in the NBA, putting the highest paid players on the floor isn't the answer. Coaching match-ups are game plans are way more important.

My opinion on the way the series has gone so far is the coaches have made adjustments after losses to position their teams to win. Ball is in Kerr's court tonight to make the changes.

That even furthers my point lol. If siakam is making 1.2M/yr and playing at the level he is the warriors are severely undermanned.