Stephen Curry described the NBA Finals as a “roller coaster.”
The Raptors won Game 1. The Warriors won Game 2. The Raptors won Game 3.
But Golden State has remained remarkably steady, scoring exactly 109 points in all three games:
- Game 1: Raptors 118, Warriors 109
- Game 2: Warriors 109, Raptors 104
- Game 3: Raptors 123, Warriors 109
“I just knew we were going to score 109 points, because that’s all we’re going to do the rest of this series,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said after Game 3. “So if we’re going to keep scoring 109, we got to keep them to 108.”
The Warriors averaged 119 points per game in the regular season and 117 points per game in the first three rounds of the playoffs. So, Toronto’s elite defense is making its mark.
But it’s just coincidental Golden State has landed on 109 three straight times. Still, it’s also an interesting oddity.
This is just the second time a team has scored the same amount in the first three games of a playoff series. The other came in the 1977 NBA Finals:
- Game 1: 76ers 107, Trail Blazers 101
- Game 2: 76ers 107, Trail Blazers 89
- Game 3: Trail Blazers 129, 76ers 107
Philadelphia also scored 107 in a 109-107 series-ending loss in Game 6. That was the only series with a team scoring the same amount four times.
Three other series have included a team scoring the same amount three straight times:
2006 first round:
- Game 2: Lakers 99, Suns 93
- Game 3: Lakers 99, Suns 92
- Game 4: Lakers 99, Suns 98
Phoenix won that series.
1998 first round:
- Game 2: Lakers 108, Trail Blazers 99
- Game 3: Trail Blazers 99, Lakers 94
- Game 4: Lakers 110, Trail Blazers 99
1956 division finals:
- Game 2: St. Louis Hawks 84, Fort Wayne Pistons 74
- Game 3: Fort Wayne Pistons 107, St. Louis Hawks 84
- Game 4: Fort Wayne Pistons 93, St. Louis Hawks 84