On June 8, the 2018-19 NBA Finals reached Game 4, and the Golden State Warriors continued to face the Toronto Raptors at home.
Starting lineups for both sides:
Warriors: Iguodala, Draymond Green, Cousins, Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry.
Raptors: Leonard, Siakam, Gasol, Danny Green, Lowry.
In this campaign, Klay Thompson and Looney returned from injury, and the Warriors greatly improved their combat effectiveness and fighting spirit.
Klay rested for one game and his strained thigh is basically fine, while Looney returned from injury and was in good spirits.
Curry hit a three-pointer in the beginning, and Tang Shen also made a jump shot, giving the Warriors the lead. In the paint, Green, Cousins and Looney also succeeded in attacking the basket. On the Raptors side, the role players collectively misfired.
You can only rely on Xiaoka to attack and score points by yourself.
In the latter part of this quarter, the Warriors continued their onslaught, and Looney made a tip-in, which once brought the point difference to double digits. In the predicament, Kawhi's turnaround jump shot and three-pointer stopped the Raptors' bleeding.
After a single quarter, the Raptors were temporarily behind 17-23.
In the second quarter, the Raptors used Ibaka to great effect. In more than three minutes, Ibaka succeeded in attacking the basket three times. One of the guards changed direction and made a single shot by Cousins, which was even more shocking.
Livingston and Tang Shen's scores quickly helped the Warriors stabilize the situation. In the middle of this quarter, as Dream Green hit a layup, the point difference came to 8 points. But then the Raptors' supporting cast suddenly woke up, Siakam
, Ibaka, and Gasol took turns to work hard. With Lowry making 2 of 2 foul shots, the Raptors trailed 42-46 at the end of the half.
After changing sides and fighting again, Kawhi hit two superstar-level three-pointers as soon as he came up, helping the Raptors take the lead.
On the Warriors' side, Curry still can't find the feeling, and the offensive burden still falls on Tang Shen's shoulders.
In the first half of the third quarter, Tang Shen hit consecutive three-pointers to keep the Warriors alive. In the second half of the quarter, Gasol and Ibaka also scored three-pointers. The Raptors took the opportunity to set off a climax. During this period, Ibaka's role was particularly obvious.
He continuously cooperated with VanVleet and scored.
Leonard continued to maintain his firepower, scoring 6 points in a row with free throws and jump shots.
After three quarters, the Raptors achieved a 79-67 lead.
An accident occurred in the final quarter. VanVleet was accidentally injured by Livingston's elbow during a scramble. He suffered bleeding from the corner of his eye and lost a tooth. He was forced to return to the locker room for treatment.
The Raptors were not affected. Ibaka's hook and dunk were successful. Kawhi and Danny Green also scored three-pointers. The Raptors maintained their double-digit advantage.
At the end of this quarter, Curry turned on the extreme operation mode and scored 8 points in a row. However, Lowry made a solid layup, the point difference was still double digits, and the suspense was basically eliminated.
In the end, after the whole game, the Raptors defeated the Warriors 105-92, leading the game with a total score of 3-1 and winning the championship point.
For the Raptors, Kawhi Kawhi continued his high-energy performance. He made 11 of 22 shots, scored 36 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and sent 4 steals.
In addition to Kawhi, Ibaka became the winning team. He made 9 of 12 shots and scored 20 points and 4 rebounds. Other players, Lowry had 10 points, 7 assists and 3 steals, Siakam had 19 points and 5 rebounds, and Gasol had 9 points.
Danny Green had 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Danny Green had 3 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. VanVleet had 8 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. In the last quarter, he suffered an elbow hit, bleeding from the corner of his eye, and a tooth was knocked out.
For the Warriors, Klay Thompson returned and made 11 of 18 shots, scoring 28 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Curry made 9 of 22 shots, scoring 27 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. Looney had 10 points and 6 rebounds. Drummond
- Green had 10 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists, Cousins had 6 points and 4 rebounds, Iguodala made 1 of 6 shots and had 3 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, and Livingston had 6 points and 3 rebounds.
The Raptors shot 31.3% from three-point range, and the Warriors shot 29.6% from three-point range. The two teams are almost the same, and there is no difference in rebounds. However, there is a big difference in turnovers between the two teams. The Warriors made 17 turnovers, while the Raptors made 17 turnovers.
There were only 9 steals, the Warriors had 6 steals, and the Raptors had 12 steals, which gave the Raptors 8 more shots!
Obviously, the Raptors did a good job on the defensive end, especially the defense on Curry, which made it difficult for the Warriors to play.
The Raptors defend very well. One of the reasons is that they do have a lot of defensive heroes, especially the forward defense is very good. The second reason is that the Warriors have a deformed lineup and poor space on the court.
The Warriors' starters Ringling, Cousins and Iguodala can basically be regarded as having no three-point ability. The Raptors often leave these three open, and they focus most of their energy on the Splash Brothers, especially Curry.
This makes Curry and Klay very uncomfortable.
In turn, the Raptors' Gasol, Lowry, and Danny Green all have three-pointers, and Siakam's three-pointers are more reliable than Draymond Green. This is a serious test for the Warriors' defense.
In addition, the performance of the Warriors' bench players is not ideal, which is much worse than that of the Raptors. Ibaka alone scored higher than all the Warriors' benches!
Of course, Curry's poor touch in this game is also a problem. He took a lot of shots, but his shooting rate was not ideal, which is also a problem.