Golden State Warriors: Top 3 keys to victory in Game 5 of the NBA Finals
By Justin Fried
The Golden State Warriors will enter Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals needing a victory to keep their championship hopes alive. Here are three keys to accomplishing that exact goal.
This is it. Many likely didn’t think we would get to this point at all in this series, let alone so early. But the Golden State Warriors officially sit one game away from elimination trailing the Toronto Raptors three games to one in the 2019 NBA Finals.
It’s been a telling series for both squads, to say the least.
The Warriors have come out flat for the majority of the series dealing with an abundance of injuries. But injuries or not, Golden State has gotten outplayed and outhustled by the Raptors who have looked like the better, more complete team.
Meanwhile, Toronto has proved all of their naysayers wrong showing that they can not only hang in there with the daunting Warriors, but that they can beat them. Not just on their home court, but in the legendary Oracle Arena as well.
However, this series is far from over. With their backs against the wall, will the Warriors respond with a streak of fury fighting from behind? Or will they lay down and allow their legendary dynasty to perhaps end, not with a bang but with a whimper?
That remains to be seen, but the next step is Game 5 back in Toronto on Monday night. Here are three keys for victory as the Warriors try and save their season, and perhaps their dynasty.
1. Fix the Fundamentals
Sometimes the simplest tasks turn out to be the hardest to accomplish and the Warriors found that out the hard way in their Game 4 loss to the Raptors.
Sound, fundamental basketball is crucial to teams having success especially when it comes to the playoffs. With these two teams relatively evenly matched in terms of talent level, the victor oftentimes comes down to whichever squad better executes the fundamentals of the game.
In this case, we’re talking about two primary things: free throws and turnovers. Both of which proved to be the Achilles heels of Golden State in their last game.
The Warriors shot a measly 14-of-21 from the line leaving a total of seven points to wallow away into the abyss. Not coincidentally, their opponents shot a near-perfect 23-of-24 from the free-throw line for a wonderful 95.8% hit rate.
The worst part about it — if you were to switch the two teams’ free throw percentages keeping the same number of attempts, the Warriors would have won the game by a slim 98-97 margin. But that’s just free throws.
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Golden State also turned the ball over a whopping 19 times and even though that only turned into 14 Toronto points, that’s 19 possessions that the Warriors couldn’t even attempt a shot. You just aren’t going to win basketball games shooting so poorly from the free-throw line and turning the ball over as much as the Warriors did.
The talk all weekend has been focused on the possible return of Kevin Durant and the play of both Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Curry. But it’s easy to forget that basketball is a very simple game when you break it down.
Unfortunately, simple doesn’t always equate to easy.