Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, right, shoots against Toronto Raptors’ Jakob Poeltl, left, as Warriors’ Draymond Green, second from right, blocks Raptors’ Delon Wright (55) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. Warriors won, 117-112. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
By Jerry Feitelberg
Oakland – The Golden State Warriors showed the Toronto Raptors why they are champions as they came back from a five-point deficit with less than two minutes to play in the game to win by five 117-112.
The Warriors had their hands full with the Raptors all night long. The Dubs continue to make too many bad passes and the committed eighteen turnovers in the game. Draymond Green committed six turnovers, and that did not help the Warriors cause.
The two teams played a very spirited first quarter. The Raptors led most of the way, but the Warriors were able to have three-point advantage 29-26 at the end of the first quarter. The Warriors increased lead to 59-49 late in the first half, but Toronto kept rebounding and playing defense, and they trailed by eight at the half 61-53 The Warriors’ big four of Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson did most of the scoring. Klay had 18, Steph 10, Draymond 11, and KD had 13. Serge Ibaka paced the Raptors with 11, DeMar DeRozan had 8, Kyle Lowery 7, and C.J.Miles tallied 10 coming off the bench.
In the third quarter, The Warriors seemed to have put its act together as they took a 14-point lead 71-57. The Raptors came right back and went on a 16-4 run to trail by just 2 points 75-73. The Warriors, behind a key 3-pointer by Steph Curry, regained a six-point lead 88-82 late in the period. Toronto would not fold and then trailed by just five 91-86 after three. The Raptors outscored the Warriors 33-30, and the play was fast and furious. Neither team would break, and the Raptors were poised to upset the Warriors at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors started the fourth quarter as KD and David West made key baskets to give Golden State an 11-point lead. The Raptors did not fold. They went on a 13-2 run to tie the game at 99. The Raptors defense kept the Warriors from scoring, and they went ahead 112-107 with just 1:52 left to play in the game. The Warriors then showed their fans, the NBA, and the world why they are champs. They scored the last 10 points of the game to win 117-112. Klay Thompson pulled down a key rebound Steph tied the game with a 3-point shot. Kevin Durant also made a key rebound. Steph made another three and finished the scoring with two free throws to ice the win for Golden State.
Game Notes and stats- Klay Thompson tallied 22 points, and he is donating a thousand dollars for each point he scores, and the money will go the victims of the Northern California Wildfires. The amount will go up as Klay will continue to donate his point total the next two games. Klay also extended his consecutive game streak to 59 by making a three-point shot in the first half. Steph led the Warriors with 30 points, and he had 5 assists, 4 rebounds and one blocked shot. KD added 29, and Draymond Green had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards. David West led the bench with 8. After the game, Steph said this:”we didn’t play our best and they played a great game.”
The Raptors were paced by DeMar DeRozan with 24. Pascal Siakhan 20, Serge Ibaka 15, Kyle Lowrey, 14, C.J.Miles 10, and Jakob Poeltl had a double-double for Toronto with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
The Warriors improve to 3-2 and face the Washington Wizards Friday night at Oracle Arena. The Wizards are led by the dynamic backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal. The Warriors will have to deal with Marcin Gortat, the big center that pushed Zaza Pachulia into Kevin Durant last year. Durant suffered a knee injury and missed about a third of the games last season. Markieff Morris, a power forward who averaged 14 points a game last year will not play as he is out with a sports hernia.
