SEEMINGLY, sanity has been restored in the ongoing NBA Finals.
That’s more of the doing of the Golden State Warriors. Their bench, like Quinn Cook and Shaun Livingstone, had outdone themselves.
That’s more of the undoing of the Toronto Raptors. Their bench bended backwards, practically leaving the first stringers to carry the fight.
In short, the Warriors had woken up Monday in winning Game Two, 109-104, thanks to Cook and Livingstone.
Cook, the 6-foot-1 from Duke University, dropped an 8-0 bomb punctuated by back-to-back triples for a 98-88 Warrior lead in the dying minutes of the game.
Livingstone, who turns 34 on Sept. 11, 2019, made it 102-91 on a basket and two free throws sandwiching a surprise three by Raptor Serge Ibaka.
And when you thought Livingstone had called it a day, he’d reappear to cap his heroics: Issue the game-winning assist.
After Danny Green’s second triple in the fourth that cut Golden State’s lead to 106-104 at the 26-second mark, Livingstone plucked a weakly-flicked pass from a nearly-fumbling Steph Curry near midcourt, and next flung the ball to Andre Iguodala.
With 5.9 seconds left, and finding himself free as a bird at left quarter court, Iguodala, a gold-medalist for the US in both the 2010 Fiba Worlds and 2012 Olympics, fired the game-clinching three that tied the series at 1-1.
Right after the ball swooshed the nets, the 6-foot-6 Iguodala acknowledged Livingstone’s assist—Andre’s shot somewhat also recalling his brilliant stint that made him the Finals MVP when Golden State first won in 2015.
Iguodala’s insignia shot put to naught another superb Kawhi Leonard performance that netted the superstar Raptor 34 points and a 17-of-17 showing at the line.
Thus, in Oakland for Game Three on Thursday, Toronto is in hostile territory. Only a fool would bet for lunch for a Raptor bounce back. Certainly.