The Toronto Raptors secured a 118-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors in the opening game of the NBA Finals on Thursday. The Raptors are competing in the Finals for the first time in their history after edging past the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, but they showed no signs of nerves in front of their home supporters at the Scotiabank Arena.
Pascal Siakam top-scored for Nick Nurse’s team with 32 points, while he was ably assisted by Kawhi Leonard, who contributed a further 23 points. Stephen Curry was the top points scorer for the Warriors with 34, but the defending champions now have work to do if they are to win the NBA Championship for the third successive year.
Nurse was certainly pleased with Toronto’s efforts during Game 1 and he is hoping they can pick up where they left off when the two teams renew rivalries once again in Ontario on Sunday. “I love it because the one thing we must do in this series is go for it, and that [game] showed no hesitancy, our confidence, and our willingness to just kind of go for it,” Nurse told reporters.
