Steph Curry was legendary, but Golden State never had a chance.
For much of the first half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, it looked like the Toronto Raptors were playing a very good college team with a future NBA lottery pick carrying them on his back.
Hoops analyst Jalen Rose said he hasn’t seen “Steph Curry play like this since Davidson.” Meaning, the Warriors would win or lose Game 3 on the prolific wing of the NBA’s shooting GOAT.
Curry kept it funky. The two-time MVP finished with a career playoff-high 47 points, but Toronto got the win 123-109 to take a 2-1 lead in the 2019 NBA Finals.
With KD, Klay, and Looney out and Boogie Cousins really just doing what he can right now, Toronto clearly looked like the more talented team. They scored with relative ease and with the exception of Curry, Golden State couldn’t buy a bucket.
Steph Curry scored 25 PTS in the first half, his most in a single half in an #NBAFinals game.
The rest of the Warriors have 27 combined points. pic.twitter.com/j2aWgZMHdG
— ESPN (@espn) June 6, 2019
The second half was much like the first as Toronto built a 14-point lead early until Iguodala stroked a couple of threes during a mini Golden State run that briefly cut the lead to seven. But Toronto had too many weapons. The Warriors were working too hard to be down by so much. The intensity of the Oracle crowd and the possibility of Game 3 being the team’s last home game at the arena, couldn’t save them
If a show from Steph Curry is what the prognosticators wanted then he certainly Cheffed up a classic performance. He had 32 points and five threes with more than 6 minutes still left in the third quarter and led another mini-run to pull the gritty champs within 8.
Steph Curry vs. the Raptors tonight. pic.twitter.com/3otGal8xDP
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) June 6, 2019
As far as the team matchup went, it was like a boxing match where one fighter keeps throwing haymakers and the other keeps absorbing them, stumbling and countering with small combinations. Curry’s combos couldn’t keep up with the power shots Toronto was delivering. Just daggers all day from Kawhi and Lowery and then Danny Green who went bananas with the trey in the third quarter, helping Toronto open up its biggest lead of the game at 16.
In case you forgot, Danny Green is MADE for the Finals
(via @Raptors)pic.twitter.com/xdGpIBOOgh
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 6, 2019
Then VanVleet.
https://twitter.com/TheRenderSports/status/1136476427002482689
Curry did everything he could. The Warriors gave it one last run and cut the lead to seven in the fourth quarter, but Toronto had way too many hitters on Wednesday night and eventually pounded the two-time defending champs into the hardwood floor.
No KD. No Klay. No way.
