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Game 2 takeaways: How the wounded Warriors evened The Finals

Joe Murphy / National Basketball Association / Getty

The Golden State Warriors used an 18-0 third-quarter run to gain some separation from the Raptors in Game 2 before evening the NBA Finals with a 109-104 win in Toronto.

Here are some takeaways from the game:

The champs are here

Nathaniel S. Butler / National Basketball Association / Getty

The aforementioned 18-0 run to open the second half was actually part of a larger 27-3 Warriors run that began in the last couple minutes of the second quarter.

Norman Powell missed a wide-open three that would've put the Raptors up 14 with 1:38 remaining in the first half, and the Warriors responded with nine points from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in the final 90 seconds. Golden State then began the third quarter with its best stretch of two-way play in the series thus far to take the crowd out of the game.

On the offensive end, the Warriors got back to what makes them great. Yes, Thompson kept them in the game early by knocking down a plethora of contested jumpers, and Curry got hot in the middle quarters, but Golden State picked a stellar defense apart with ball movement, backdoor cuts, and the playmaking brilliance of non-shooters like Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins, and Andre Iguodala.

Green found shooters, Cousins spotted cutters after attracting extra defensive attention catching the ball in the post and on the elbows, and Iguodala found a combination of both when the Raptors closed out on him. The trio finished the night with 21 assists between them, and the Warriors recorded 34 assists on 38 field goals, including 22 on every made field goal in the second half.

On the defensive end, the Warriors did a good job of mixing their coverages on Kawhi Leonard. Though Leonard scored 34 points and got to the free-throw line 16 times, he appeared more bothered and surprised by Golden State's aggressive, more varied traps. Leonard committed five turnovers, which doesn't include the number of additional possessions that were stalled and delayed by those traps.

The Warriors were also a lot better at getting back in transition to eliminate some of Pascal Siakam's easy offense.

Given how dominant the Raptors looked for parts of the first half, and the fact the already Durant-less champs finished the game without Thompson (hamstring tightness) or Kevon Looney (sprained collarbone), that they were able to summon this type of performance in such a hostile environment is a testament to Rudy Tomjanovich's most famous quote: "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion."

Raptors get creative on D

Though they ultimately came up short, credit Nick Nurse and the Raptors for making a creative in-game adjustment you rarely see.

Down the stretch, Toronto rolled out what's referred to as a box-and-one defense, which is essentially a hybrid of man-to-man and zone. You see this a lot in youth basketball and the college game, when opposing teams often only have one credible scoring threat, but I don't think I've ever seen it used in the NBA, and certainly not in a playoff game, let alone The Finals.

With Thompson out, the Raptors shifted to this unique, risky style of defense in an attempt to eliminate Curry.

Fred VanVleet guarded the two-time MVP when he had the ball, and stayed glued to Curry off the ball, while the remaining four Raptors played a box zone in the paint. Here are a couple of examples of what that looked like, with VanVleet hounding Curry in the upper right of the first image, and chasing him through the middle of the paint in the second:

NBA League Pass
NBA League Pass

Notice the amount of space Shaun Livingston (first image above), Quinn Cook (second image above), and Green (second image above) are afforded on the perimeter as the Raptors completely ignore everyone but Curry until another player breaches a defender's respective zone.

The next screengrab is even more jarring. VanVleet is already stuck to Curry while the remaining Raptors are guarding their zones inside the 3-point line before the Warriors have even made it to center court:

Golden State faced this defense on eight possessions down the stretch and went scoreless, going 0-for-6 with two turnovers.

Unfortunately for Toronto, the Raptors bricked a ton of good looks and only managed to score seven points while pitching a shutout for five-and-a-half minutes. Had the Raps found a way to escape with the win, this defensive adjustment would have been the stuff of legend.

Iguodala's dagger and Livingston's save

The one bucket Golden State hit over the final 5:38 came courtesy of Iguodala, a 33 percent 3-point shooter who took an ill-advised triple with his team up two in the final eight seconds.

It was an absolute dagger that sucked out whatever life was left in Scotiabank Arena, but the real hero of the possession was Livingston, who somehow came away with this ball after it appeared VanVleet and Siakam had forced Curry into turning it over to Leonard:

NBA League Pass

"I saw Steph was trapped, so I just wanted to make sure that I really tried to meet the pass, not run away from it," Livingston told theScore as he left the arena Sunday night. "That's all I was thinking about in that moment."

Livingston's three assists all came in the fourth quarter, with his final dime of the night coming on the Iguodala bucket.

Weird whistle

The officials aren't the reason either team won or lost the first two games of this series, but they're not exactly letting the two finalists play, either.

The Warriors and Raptors, who combined for 42.4 fouls per game during the regular season and 45.9 fouls per game during the first three rounds of the playoffs, have combined for 50.5 fouls per contest through two Finals games.

The old cliche is that refs swallow their whistles in the postseason, but the officials in this series have done the opposite, especially on plays involving what would be considered weak contact in October, let alone June. And it's not just fans and media complaining, either.

Quote of the game

"That's kind of disrespectful, to leave Andre Iguodala open like that." - Steph Curry on Toronto's "janky" fourth-quarter defense and Iguodala's big shot.

What to watch for

Joe Murphy / National Basketball Association / Getty

The Warriors' health.

Durant has yet to practice since suffering a calf strain May 8, Thompson and Looney were forced from Game 2, Cousins has only played two games since missing six weeks with a quad injury, and Iguodala required an MRI after suffering a leg injury in Game 1, though he still logged 28 minutes in Game 2.

For a team already lacking in quality depth, this doesn't bode well over the course of a long series.

Finals MVP if series ended today

1. Stephen Curry

2. Pascal Siakam

In the mix: Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green

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