Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press
OAKLAND — It was a pivotal game that wasn’t, a fine matchup undone by so many injuries to so many creaky Warrior stars that the outcome – a 123-109 Raptors victory – became that strangest of postseason creations:
It was a mulligan, a reluctant giveaway to the Raptors, no less foreordained for being fiercely contested. And the result came adorned with questions still unanswered.
Had the Toronto Raptors with this asterisk of a victory on enemy turf purged the nightmare memory of their previous game when the Warriors embarked on a run – at its peak it featured 18 unanswered points — that left the earth salted and their team plowed under?