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The Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors met in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, with the Warriors trying to make their case as one of the greatest teams in NBA history.
However, the Raptors had other ideas. They held numerous advantages over the Warriors that other teams simply haven’t had. For one thing, this is the first NBA Finals in which the Warriors do not have home-court advantage. Furthermore, the Dubs are without Kevin Durant, the “nuclear weapon” scoring option who has won the past two NBA Finals MVP Awards.
All of those factors led to the Warriors dropping Game 1 to the Toronto Raptors by a final score of 118-109. The Raptors put forth a balanced scoring attack with five players in double figures.
The lack of bench depth on the Dubs didn't let them down, but the capable cadre of sparkplugs that litter the Raptors' roster was too much for Golden State's comparatively less potent options.
With this loss, the Warriors are now in extremely unfamiliar territory. This marks the first time the Steve Kerr-era Dubs have started an NBA Finals series by losing Game 1, per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports:
This is a first for the Golden State Warriors, as they trail to start a Finals for the first time since starting this run of five-straight appearances.
2015 – led 1-0
2016 – led 2-0
2017 – led 3-0
2018 – won 4-0— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) May 31, 2019
That is just an absurd stat for this dynasty, but it shows how unusual the circumstances surrounding this series are for Golden State. Who knows if the Raptors can shock the world and defeat the juggernaut Warriors, but Game 1 was certainly a big step toward that goal.
If you are wondering: The last time the Dubs lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals before Thursday night was in 1967, when the then-San Francisco Warriors lost Game 1 of the Finals to the Philadelphia 76ers.
