The Toronto Raptors may be new to the NBA Finals, but they aren’t naive. They had no pity for a depleted Warriors team on Wednesday and beat the defending champs 123-109 to take a 2-1 series lead. With Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson (oh, and Kevon Looney) out, Splash Only Child Steph Curry attempted to win the game by himself. He managed to put up 47 points, but the Raptors did more than enough to keep Curry at arms’ length (normal, human-sized arms; not little velociraptor arms.)

Golden State has overcome a two-games-to-one Finals deficit before, but that was in 2015 against the Matthew Dellavedova-led Cleveland Cavaliers. The Raptors are playing their best basketball of the season at the best possible time, and it’s going to take a little more than Curry’s one-man band to turn this series around. Specifically, it will take six things.

1. Klay Thompson has less than 48 hours for his hamstring strain to heal before Friday’s pivotal Game 4. I’m no doctor, but pacing around on a hurt leg will probably accelerate the process. This is a good sign.

Klay itching to get in pic.twitter.com/xZGkdH3ASB — NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 6, 2019

2. Kevin Durant suffered a calf injury in the 2019 Western Conference Finals, which I believe were played around 50 years ago. He should start pacing, STAT.

3. Steph was great in Game 3 and went 17-31 from the field. If he made all 31 of his shots, however, the Warriors would have won. That’s something to consider for Friday.

4. The Raptors’ bench has been a big factor. Backup point guard Fred VlanVleet scored 11 points on Wednesday and sealed the win with a ridiculous heave that nearly kissed Golden State’s banners.

Yeah, uh, don’t let him do that.

5. Draymond Green has a plan and Golden State would be foolish not to follow it.

“… win the next game, go back to Toronto, win Game 5, come back to Oracle, win Game 6 and then celebrate. Fun times ahead.”



—Draymond after losing Game 3 of the #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/IXTD0A05BF — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 6, 2019

6. The last and most important step is to prevent the Raptors from hearing about Draymond Green’s plan, lest they steal it for themselves.