Kawhi Leonard, shooting guard for the Toronto Raptors. via @Raptors
November 30, 2018 — The game last night between the Warriors and Raptors was definitely a playoff preview & I loved every second of it.
Kevin Durant was on fire once again, scoring 51 points, 11 reb and six assists. Did you know his all time scoring high of 54 points was against the Warriors back in the day?
Check out the three KD hit to tie the game at the end of regulation:
SUMMARY:
The Warriors were down quick early in the first quarter; Toronto hit six three’s while the Warriors were 0-6. Throughout the second quarter the Warriors struggled to keep the score within reach and by halftime they were only down by nine, thanks to some scoring from KD. He was hot, hitting every shot (as you can tell from the clip above). It felt like a great play by the Dubs was immediately followed by a spectacular three-point jumper by Kawhi Leonard (37 points, eight rebounds, three assists). He was on fire last night.
During the third quarter, the Warriors offense finally had a rhythm going and played some hard nose defense. KD was resting, so Kerr had Jordan Bell, Klay Thompson (23 points, three rebounds, three assists), Jonas Jerebko (20 points, 10 rebounds, two assists), Damian Lee (seven points, three rebounds) & Shaun Livingston (four points, two rebounds, seven assists) on the floor. The offense was on fire with this line up, the only fault the team had was in the paint. Bell was getting great positioning under the basket, but hesitated on taking shots, which cost the Warriors in the long run. I wanna say he could have had at least six points last night?
Kevon Looney (seven points, 10 rebounds, two assists), subbed in for Bell and I swear the entire team was consistent, alert and in motion. The ball was flowing on offense, shots were flying (before Klay hit his fourth quarter drought). Looney was aggressive on the ball, without him fighting for rebounds the defense was slacking. Once KD returned the battle between him and Kawahi Leonard was on.
Now, let’s say Steph Curry was healthy and able to play, do I think the Warriors would’ve won? Yes, but only by single digits. By the end of the game KD was mostly handling the ball, if he wasn’t double teamed, on offense. Leonard was playing some killer defense against KD & Thompson went dry by the last three minutes of the fourth. I can’t wait to see Curry vs Leonard in the future.
Once KD hit that killer three-pointer it felt as if the Warriors were going to win in OT, but unfortunately Andre Iguodala had too many crucial turnovers in the overtime period. Those mistakes turned into points for the Raptors and the Warriors lost 128-131.
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