Kevin Durant's game is questionable, but it is clearly the defending champion Golden State Warriors, who is likely to be the winner of the North American Basketball Championship (NBA) this year, where for the first time in his history Toronto Raptors will be the opponent of the Oakland team.
The fifth year of the California Guard is the "king" of the West, and three of the last four major finals, and now the third success of the series.
The Warriors performed a bit wavering in the current regular season, but still closed at the top of the conference, and was the top first in the playoffs. In the first round, the Los Angeles Clipper was beaten, and in the second, the biggest rival, Houston Rockets was beaten by 4-2 and then swept away from the road to 4-0 by the Portland Trail Blazer.
During the season, the team's best was Kevin Durant, the most valuable player in last year's and last year's championship final, but was injured at the end of the Houston Combat. However, the Guard did not feel his lack, and proved against Portland that he was capable without him.
However, he will have to prove this again in the big final, as Durant will not be able to play on Thursday's first match, and he has no idea when he can re-enter.
While the Warriors have gone almost routine to their finals, Toronto Raptors is an absolute novice at this level. Since his debut in 1995, he has just won a conference for the first time since his second final in 2016. The current Eastern success story began with the defeat of Orlando Magic 4-1, followed by a heavy 4-3 success against the Philadelphia 76ers, and ended with a 4-2 success at the finals at Milwaukee Bucks. In addition, the Canadian Guard turned a 2-0 drawback on the Eastern Championship title, which could give the band a tremendous boost to the Golden State battle.
In addition to the experience, there is also a big difference between the teams that, along with Durant, several other star players, such as Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, are also members of the band, while the Raptors clearly stand out. The play of Toronto is basically determined by the game of Kawhi Leonard from San Antonio last summer. With Spurs in 2014, the champion and finalist (MVP) basketball won 31.2 points and 8.8 rebounds in 18 matches this year in the playoffs, and the team won their seventh match against Philadelphia with their hotty, ringing "three-point".
The finals of the final will begin at dawn in Toronto on Friday, as the Raptors in the regular season won a better win at Golden State.
Final schedule (in Hungarian):
Match 1:
Toronto Raptors-Golden State Warriors, Friday 3.00
Match 2:
Toronto-Golden State, June 3, 2.00
Match 3:
Golden State-Toronto, June 6, 3.00
Match 4:
Golden State-Toronto, June 8, 3.00
Match 5 (if required):
Toronto-Golden State, June 11, 3.00
Match 6 (if required):
Golden State-Toronto, June 14, 3.00
Match 7 (if required):
Toronto-Golden State, June 17, 2.00
(Source: sportrajongo.hu, m4sport, mti / Photo: pixabay)