Antoine Walker made a bold claim after the Golden State Warriors lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday, claiming the defending champions would not win without Kevin Durant returning to play:

“This is a different series, different animal. They gotta do more defensively than they had to do in the Portland series,” said Walker as a guest of FOX Sports 1's “First Things First.” “Honestly, Toronto is much better than Portland, it's a different animal. I don't believe they're gonna win this series without KD playing. If KD does not play, the Toronto Raptors will be the NBA champs.”

While Game 1 losses often call for overreaction on talk shows of this kind, Walker is onto something here.

Durant's presence ameliorates things for the Warriors at both ends of the floor, acting as a stabilizing presence on offense as a scoring force who can grind his way to a bucket or a foul call, while being a rangy and more-than-capable defender who can cover plenty of ground.

Golden State gave up plenty of open triples on Thursday, 3s that would have been at least lightly contested or pump fakes if Durant was around to cover ground.

Durant's presence will also take some of the toll away from Andre Iguodala, becoming another perimeter defender who can challenge the likes of Pascal Siakam, Serge Ibaka and Kawhi Leonard.

The Warriors are currently fighting somewhat of an uphill battle with Iguodala already limping in the final minute of Game 1 and a DeMarcus Cousins who is still evidently going through the gears of his return.

Hope is that Durant could be in line to return for Game 3 at Oracle Arena, though a more realistic expectation can be Game 4, according to an earlier report.