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8 Jun, 2019 12:21

One win away: Toronto Raptors take 3-1 lead over Golden State in NBA Finals

One win away: Toronto Raptors take 3-1 lead over Golden State in NBA Finals

The Toronto Raptors move to within one win of a first-ever NBA championship after claiming a 105-92 win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors in their best-of-seven NBA Finals series.

The Raptors found themselves 46-42 down heading into halftime in the crunch clash, but a stirring second-half display, led by talismanic Kawhi Leonard, saw them run away with the game in the closing stages to extend their series lead to 3-1.

It puts the Raptors in a historically strong position - only once has a team recovered from a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA Finals (the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers).

And with the pivotal fifth game in the series taking place on Toronto's home court, the atmosphere for the potentially title-winning game is expected to be at fever pitch inside the Scotiabank Arena.

The Warriors are chasing their third successive NBA title, and fourth in the last five years, but were blown away in the second half, as Leonard led the way with 36 points, while Serge Ibaka and Pascal Siakam added 20 and 19 points respectively.

RT

"Just be patient, come in focused and ready to play defence and make some shots," said Leonard, explaining the mindset his team needs to complete the job in Game 5.

"As long as we win, I'm satisfied."

Raptors coach Nick Nurse paid tribute to his team's star man, crediting his big three-pointers early in the second half as the spark the team needed to produce a game-winning performance.

"Kawhi's two big threes to start the half really, I thought, changed the whole feel for everybody," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.

"I just thought everybody was like, 'OK, we know we are here, let's go'. And we just kind of kept going from those two threes."

For Warriors coach Steve Kerr, the job in hand is to simply get back into the win column, then build from there.

RT

"You just try to win one game," he said.

"That's what we did a few years ago against OKC (Oklahama City Thunder). Win one game and then move forward.

"So that's our focus now. We'll fly to Toronto tomorrow and take a look at the film, see what we can do better and try to win a game.

"We have won a lot of games over the years, so we'll try to win another one."

Also on rt.com Dancing in the streets: Raptors fans pack the streets of Toronto to celebrate first NBA Finals

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