The Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 123-109 in Game 3 of the 2019 NBA Finals at the Oracle Arena on Wednesday, claiming victory in their first away game and taking a 2-1 lead in the series.

Toronto buried 17 3-pointers in total – six by Danny Green, five by Kyle Lowry and two by Kawhi Leonard.

Game 4 will be held in Oakland on Friday.

Raptors play their best offense in the playoffs

Toronto from the beginning had a clear plan in offense as their assault began from the inside. Without Klay Thompson, Golden State did not have enough resources to contain Toronto. Both Marc Gasol and Pascal Siakam felt way less pressure from the opponent's defense and kept punishing Golden State under the rim in the first half.

The Warriors had no choice but to focus more on the help defense in the paint, which gave the Raptors more open shots from the 3-point line and this time, unlike in Game 2, the Raptors grasped these chances by going 17 for 37 in 3-pointers. Danny Green (6/10) and Lowry (5/9) both surpassed 50 percent from downtown.

The other thing Toronto did better than last game was that they always managed to make those crowd silencers every time when Golden State tried to gain momentum. For multiple times, the home team narrowed the score difference down to seven points. However, Toronto could almost depend on anyone to stop them from going any further, either via 3-pointers by Lowry, Danny Green, Leonard, VanVleet, or through field goals by Gasol or Serge Ibaka.

In the end, the Raptors were almost perfect in offense in Game 3. Leonard scored the team's highest 30 points which only took him 17 shots to get. All of their starting players dropped double-digit points – the least 17 came from Gasol – while VanVleet contributed 11 off the bench.

Nonetheless, it's hard to say so for their defense. Coach Nick Nurse made some very confusing decisions on this side of the court in Game 3. Knowing that Stephen Curry was Golden State's only major weapon in offense, Nurse did not have his players double team Curry in most of the time. Moreover, Toronto did not seem to find any solution to defending the screen plays between Stephen Curry and Draymond Green in the logo area, which is too far to double team and too dangerous to switch.

A record night for Curry

Without Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney, Golden State had nobody to turn to, except Curry, the two-time NBA MVP who yet was always questioned by many over his ability to lead his team in the playoffs.

This time, Curry's reply was good enough as he scored 47 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. He claimed 12 of the Warriors first 14 points and the refreshed career highs in first-quarter scoring (17 points), first-half points (25) and single-game points in the Finals (47).

Besides scoring, Curry's off-ball movement on the court was an even bigger distraction for the Raptors' defense – everyone had to keep an eye on Curry while defending their own target. However, this time, the Warriors did not their usual firepower to punish the opponent. The rest of the team in total got 62 points and made only six 3-pointers.

The good news for Golden State was that they had been ready for this loss. Before Game 3, Thompson wanted to play despite his injury but the team convinced him to back off. Compared with risking players' health, coach Steve Kerr chose to wait patiently until it's safe for everyone to return to the court, not just Thompson, but also Durant.

What can change?

So far Toronto have been holding the advantage in the series thanks to better physical talents and defense. However, their problems included: their offense is not stable; they cannot contain both Curry and his teammates; they have not met Durant's power in the playoffs and judging by what happened to the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets, Toronto will not like Golden State with Durant.

As for the Warriors, they are probably the only party that knows when or whether Thompson and Durant will ever return. Even if they do, there's still a big question on how long it will take them to find their best game back. If they cannot be counted on, the rest of the team will have to push themselves harder, including Curry.