NBA Finals: Raptors Beat Depleted Warriors, Durant Scrimmage Planned Before Game 4

The Toronto Raptors negated their Game 2 home loss in the NBA Finals by claiming the first game of the series at the Oracle Arena on Wednesday night. Kawhi Leonard top scored in Game 3 with 30 points as the Raptors won 123-109.

The Warriors are facing a major injury crisis and were without Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant. The former is listed as day-to-day with a hamstring strain while the latter has been out since the Western Conference semifinals with a right calf strain.

Stephen Curry was left to shoulder all the scoring burden and he did. He finished the night with 47 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists but there’s only that much one player can do when he is not backed up by the rest of his team. The next top scorer for the Warriors was Draymond Green with 17 points but there was only one other player who went into double figures for the Warriors and it was Andre Iguodala with 11 points.

The Raptors, on the other hand, had an all-round team performance as Kyle Lowry scored 23 and 9 assists while Pascal Siakam and Danny Green had 18 points. The starting 5 did the bulk of the scoring with the bench contributing 17 points of which 11 points came from Fred VanVleet.

The Warriors point guard tried his best to win the game singlehandedly for the reigning champion but they were missing too much on both ends of the court with Thompson and Durant on the sidelines. Both the players are expected to return before the end of the series but it remains to be seen if they can practice on Thursday for Game 4 on Friday night.

According to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, Durant is expected to go through a behind closed door scrimmage in the team's Oakland training facility. It is unclear if it will be in a 3-on-3 or a 5-on-5 setting, but it is a good sign for the Warriors, as they are unlikely to topple the Raptors without either one or both their All-Stars returning from injury for Game 4.

Steve Kerr admitted that the main reason Thompson sat out of Game 3 was the fear of aggravating his minor hamstring strain. The head coach revealed that the shooting guard had done well in the last two days and with two more days to heal, Kerr is hopeful Thompson will be available for Game 4 on Friday.