Just when you thought the NBA playoffs were out of surprises, the Oklahoma City Thunder are pulling another rabbit out of the hat.
On Wednesday morning (AEST), the Thunder defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals to go up 3-1 in the series, meaning if the Warriors lose one of their next three then it is all over.
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The Warriors broke the record for the best-ever regular season and ended with a record of 73 wins and nine losses, so to lose three out of four games in a row was almost unfathomable.
For OKC, it comes hot on the heels of their 4-2 series win in the Western Conference semi-finals against the San Antonio Spurs, who were supposed to dominate.
In fact, as recently as December anything other than a Spurs vs Warriors western finals series would be a surprise.
The Warriors’ offence has struggled to find their usual rhythm against the Thunder, and it was another blowout in Game 4 as they went down by 24 – hot on the heels of the 28-point smashing in Game 3.
The Thunder have looked in a different league to the Warriors during the matches played on their home court, even going back to Game 1. They are now huge favourites and you wouldn’t put it past them to wrap it up back in Oakland during Game 5.
Meanwhile, out in the Eastern Conference we have another unexpected finals series, based on the Toronto Raptors’ playoff history over the last few years, where they haven’t made it out of the first round.
This year though, they escaped with a win over the Indiana Pacers by the skin of their teeth in seven games, before doing battle with Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat. In what was a scrappy semi-final series, the Raptors eventually prevailed in seven games to set up this meeting the LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
After being blown off the court by a massive 31 points in Game 1, and things not going much better in Game 2 with another double-digit loss, the Raptors bounced back at home in Game 3 to win by 15 points and Game 4 by six points.
When the Cavaliers hadn’t lost a game so far in the playoffs, winning ten straight and finally looking to be somewhere near their best form, any loss is a worrying one.
The Cavs struggled to build consistency through the regular season, dropping games in silly ways – just to remind everyone they could implode at any given moment.
Despite the Raptors’ struggles on offence since the playoffs started, the fact they turned it around enough to pinch two games against the Cavaliers should worry Cleveland players and fans.
The Cavaliers as a unit always seem to work best when they have more than LeBron on the court. Scoring contributions from others, particularly the likes of Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and those coming off the bench, means James can do the other, little things better than anyone else and work his team into the lead of matches that way.
James was back to top scoring in Game 3 though, while both Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan were hot, shooting a combined 67 points with 28 of 43 from the field.
The Raptors showed enough in that one performance that if they can take Game 4 at home, there is every chance they could beat the Cavs.
Imagine a Toronto vs Oklahoma NBA Finals series. Who would have thought that at the start of the season?
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