4 Reasons the Warriors Should Prefer to Face the Raptors in the NBA Finals
By Sean Facey
The Golden State Warriors have the luxury of waiting for their NBA Finals opponent after needing just four games to dispatch the Trail Blazers. They ought to have a rooting interest in the Eastern Conference Finals, however, in favor of the No. 2 seed Toronto Raptors. Here are four reasons why the two-time defending champs should be pulling for the Raptors to topple the Bucks on the other side of the bracket.
4. Working Winded
Should the Raptors win the East, they would have played two more total games than Milwaukee in the playoffs, all while forcing heavy minutes to their starters. They'd be on their last legs in the finals, and their depth doesn't quite compare to that of the Bucks.
3. Weaker on Defense
The differences here are admittedly marginal, but the Bucks held their opponents to a league-low 43.3% field goal percentage in the regular season, only a bit better than Toronto's 44.9% mark. But outside of Kawhi Leonard and Serge Ibaka, the Warriors would have little trouble picking apart this defense-- and Kawhi played with a noticeable limp Tuesday night in Game 4.
2. Fewer Weapons to Defend
The simple fact of the matter is that the Raptors don't have nearly as many ways to hurt the Warriors offensively as the Bucks do: Coach Bud's boys were the highest-scoring offense in the league during the regular season. Milwaukee was prolific inside the paint this year, and quite frankly, it's not very easy to defend the runaway freight train that is MVP favorite Giannis Antetokounmpo, the kind of absolute matchup nightmare that no other team can boast.
1. A Legacy of Choking
Let's be real, this is in the back of the mind of every Raptors player and fan. Should the Raptors fall in Game 1 against the Dubs, observers should fully expect a full capitulation. We've seen Ibaka, Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, and Fred Van Vleet all have shambolic games so far in the playoffs, so you know they're fully capable of a good, old-fashioned Toronto playoff collapse, especially against a historically dominant team.