If the Toronto Raptors hope to deny the Golden State Warriors' quest for a third straight NBA title, it's going to be a whole team effort.
“It’s tough. It’s tough to game plan for these guys,” said Raptors star Fred VanVleet following a morning practice at the OVO Athletic Centre.
"They’ve done it at a really high level for a long time now and they play really well. They’re not a perfect team by any means, but they do it at a high level and they don’t leave you very much margin for error.”
VanVleet will be one of the Raptors tasked with guarding Stephen Curry, the perennial MVP contender who averaged 27 points per game during the regular season.
"He’s just a different kind of player. He changes the entire dynamic of the team, of the offence of whatever defence you hope to put out there,” VanVleet said.
“And as a guy who is going to have to chase him around and make it hard on him, obviously there’s not going to be any time to relax or take plays off or anything like that so you got to be really locked in mentally, and just understand what he brings to the table.”
The team spent the morning practicing and watching game tape as they prepare for the start of the NBA Finals on Thursday.
The Raptors may have made history by winning the East Conference on Saturday, but Raptors forward Pascal Siakam says those games are in the past. The focus now is on the Warriors.
"New team, different style of play," Siakam said. "I think everything is different. It doesn’t matter how we got here. We’re here and we are ready to win it."
The Raptors' quest for the championship begins at home Thursday at 9 p.m.
