Raptors vs. Warriors Game 3: Live Score and Updates

Klay Thompson is officially out

Over the last seven seasons, the Warriors have played 120 playoff games, and Thompson has started all of them. He’s the only player on the team who can make such a claim — Draymond Green is second with 119, having missed only Game 5 of the 2016 N.B.A. finals because of a suspension — but Thompson’s streak is over thanks to an injured hamstring. Shaun Livingston will start in his place. Thompson had played through injuries before, including a sprained ankle in last year’s finals, so there is no doubt that he lobbied the training staff to allow him to play. Now Golden State will play its first postseason game without him since 2007, when he was still in high school.

Can the Raptors stay out of foul trouble?

Toronto has kept its rotation tight in these finals, with eight players combining for 473 of 480 minutes. (Patrick McCaw, the former Warrior, got the remaining seven.) Potentially standing in the way of keeping things so neat — especially with this series leaving Toronto for two games — is the foul trouble of both Marc Gasol and Kyle Lowry. Gasol fouled out of Game 1, and had four fouls in Game 2. Lowry had five in Game 1 and fouled out of Game 2. Considering how important both players are to the team’s defensive scheme, keeping them on the court is paramount.

A potential boost for the Raptors’ defense, though, could come from OG Anunoby should the small forward be sufficiently recovered from his appendectomy. He was available for Game 2 but did not play.

Andre Iguodala is staying humble

Andre Iguodala is the oldest player on either team, and he and Leonard are the only active ones who have been named most valuable player of a finals. But with Iguodala coming off one of the biggest shots of his career (the Game 2 clincher), and with people once again bringing up the viability of the Hall of Fame for him, the versatile swing man recently talked openly about how he plays to support Curry and “protect his legacy.” He also cleared up that while he does not love being called Iggy, he doesn’t mind being called an author.

Can DeMarcus Cousins effectively replace Kevon Looney?

DeMarcus Cousins could hardly be a more different player from the injured Looney. The four-time All-Star is known almost entirely for his offense, and he has struggled with defense, especially during his brief time in Golden State, which has never seen him 100 percent healthy. As a result, Cousins, in just his third game back from a severely injured quadriceps, is an awkward fit to fill the crucial crunchtime minutes that the Warriors have often gotten from Looney. There is some optimism that Cousins’s strong second half in Game 2, when he showed a strong nose for rebounds and some intricate passing, means he is ready to step up his minutes. But there is also a strong possibility that more minutes will instead have to fall to Andrew Bogut or Jordan Bell.

The Raptors miss their bench players.

In Game 1, the Raptors got a subpar performance from Kawhi Leonard (23 points on 5 of 14 shooting), great games from several of the team’s less heralded players, and they won. In Game 2, Leonard was dominant (34 points, 14 rebounds), the supporting cast regressed a great deal, and they lost.

Even against a short-handed Warriors team, Toronto will need a lot more from its “other” players to win in Oakland’s deafening Oracle Arena. A return to form from Pascal Siakam, the hero of Game 1, would help, but so would a stepped-up performance from Kyle Lowry, Toronto’s only All-Star besides Leonard; Lowry scored just 7 points in Game 1 and only 13 in Game 2.