O Canada (Warriors 120, Raptors 105)

The Golden State Warriors won convincingly in Madison Square Garden on Thursday evening with the knowledge that they had a long night of travel ahead. That turned into an abject transportation disaster, as the road-weary Dubs endured a plane switch, a long delay on the tarmac, and an eventual arrival into Toronto after 7 am. Brandin Podziemski was ruled out due to injury, with Andrew Wiggins away from the team dealing with a personal matter. Stephen Curry had just swatted away “fatigue” allegations with a stellar performance in New York, but he had been bearing a heavy load and is, you know, 35 years old. Klay Thompson has struggled on back-to-backs. Draymond Green has been banging and bumping with people a lot larger than him ever since he returned to the team. This had all the hallmarks of a scheduled loss, a game in which no one would have blamed the Warriors for rolling over. But after a listless start, a few early timeouts, and Steve Kerr warming up his jumper, the Dubs revved up the engines and blew past the Raptors with a dominant second half. Their 120-105 win pushes them to a season-best 5 games above .500, just 3 games out of the 5 seed, and gives them a “free” shot at the Celtics on Sunday afternoon. The vibes might be back.

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