Warriors Vs. Raptors 1/10/2021

Both teams were coming off of nice comeback wins going into this matchup. Both teams needed to carry that momentum into the game to get the win. Let’s start with the Raptors, they needed to be able to find points throughout their offense and smother Stephen Curry on defense. The Warriors needed scoring from Curry, better finishing around the rim, and solid defense all around. Let’s get into the game!

James Wiseman got a nice hook shot for the first points and the Warriors went on a 10-1 run to start the game. Andrew Wiggins was 3-3 on threes with 9 points. Curry took and made his first shot a little bit over 9 minutes into the game. Eric Paschall made a three leaving 0.3 seconds left in the first. To end the quarter Malachi Flynn hit a full court shot that was just after the buzzer. After the first quarter the Warriors were winning 31-24. They were being led by Wiggins with 9 points and Wiseman with 8. Turnovers were an issue for the Warriors in the first quarter with 5. The Raptors were being led by Pascal Siakam with 11 points. The Raptors didn’t have great shooting splits with 35.7% from the field and 30.8% from behind the ark. The Warriors on the contrary shot well with 46.2% from 2 and 50% from 3.

To start off the second quarter Chris Boucher made a 3 to make the score 31-27. The Warriors took an 11 point lead on a Damion Lee euro step. Brad Wannamaker made a layup to give the Warriors a 16 point lead near the 5 minute mark. With around a minute left in the half Fred VanVleet got a technical foul. After the half the Warriors were lead 61-51 after a second quarter led by the second unit. Stephen Curryonly scored 3 points in the first half. The second unit was led by Wannamaker, Lee, and Paschall with a combined 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. The Warriors also lowered their turnovers to 2 in the second quarter rather than 5. The Raptors didn’t play well in the first half. A main reason for that was that Kyle Lowry didn’t score a point in the first half. The Raptors were also behind the Warriors in almost every stat line. Speaking of stat lines the the Raptors shot 38.5% from the field and 28.6% from deep. The Warriors shot much better shooting 46% from the field and 40% from 3.

To start off the second half VanVleet made a 3 which made the score 61-54. Kyle Lowry got his first point off of a free throw with 9:05 to go in the third. With 3:39 to go in the quarter the Warriors were leading 76-68 and Stephen Curry was 1 for 12 on shooting. The Warriors played good defense leading to a Raptors 24 second violation. Eric Paschall made a layup while being fouled to give the Warriors a 10 point lead. At the end of the third quarter the Warriors led 87-72 after a decent quarter where the Warriors quietly built the lead to 15. The Raptors went into the 4th needing a few more points out of Lowry. Neither team shot very well in the third quarter.

The Raptors Chris Boucher got his 5th foul to start the fourth quarter. The Raptors got called for another 24 second violation near the 8 and a half minute mark. The Raptors went on a 21-5 run from around 11:00 to around the 5 minute mark. The Warriors went on a 4 minute long scoring drought in the middle of the fourth quarter. Kelly Oubre Jr finally ended the scoring drought with a corner 3 to make the score 97-93 Warriors. At around the 3 minute mark Chris Boucher gave the Raptors their first lead off of a put back shot. Stephen Curry broke his streak of misses with a three pointer to make the score 101 to 100 Raptors. Chris Boucher fouled out after fouling Curry on a layup. Kent Bazemore got a layup to give the Warriors a 104-103 lead. VanVleet made a jumper to give the Raptors a 1 point lead with a minute to go. Warriors got a stop to give them the ball out of bounds with 7.7 seconds to go. Damion Lee was fouled on the floor with 4.3 seconds to go. Damion Lee made both free throws to give the Warriors a one point lead going into the final play of the game. Pascal Siakam missed a fadeaway midrange jumper which gave the Warriors their 6th win of the season. The Warriors won 106-105.

Leo’s Courtside Commentary: Stephen Curry had his worst game of the season and his worst shooting game of his career most likely due to the Raptors amazing defense on Stephen Curry. On a positive note, the rest of the Warriors played a very impressive game. Draymond Green stood out, almost getting a triple double with 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 10 assist. Andrew Wiggins also had a nice game leading the Warriors with 17 points. The Warriors stat line really showed how bad that fourth quarter was. With 40.9% from the field and 28.3% from deep was not great. The Warriors second unit was another bright spot once again. Luckily, the Warriors were able to close out the game in that final minute. The Raptors on the other hand had an amazing fourth quarter led by Kyle Lowry and his 15 or so points in the fourth to make it another very close game for the Warriors. Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet led the Raptors in scoring with a combined 46 points, 16 rebounds, and 8 assists. The Raptors didn’t shoot too bad with 40.6% from 2 and 34.2% from 3. Curry had a really tough game but the rest of the team made up for it. Overall, this was a very close and very entertaining game that went down to the wire.