SAN FRANCISCO—It’s going to be at least a little bit weird here Thursday night.
Not quite as emotional as it might have been, not quite as juiced up. A new atmosphere lacking something, and a game that will not hold the anticipation that it could have.
More than two-thirds of the way into the long NBA regular season, the defending champion Raptors and Golden State Warriors will play for the first time since Game 6 of the NBA Finals last June.
Normally it would be a bigger than big game — heavyweights sizing each other up in anticipation of perhaps another post-season meeting, or at least remembering what had transpired in that championship series — but now, it’s a game between a very good team and one that’s dead last in the overall standings.