Raptors subdue Bucks to knot series

LOS ANGELES: The Toronto Raptors closed ranks around hurting star Kawhi Leonard, turning in a total team effort in a 120-102 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday to level the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

Kyle Lowry led the Raptors with 25 points and Toronto’s bench out-scored Milwaukee’s 48-23 as the Raptors followed up their double-overtime triumph in Game Three with a second straight home win.

They knotted the best-of-seven series at 2-2 with Game Five in Milwaukee today.

The winner of the series will take on two-time defending champions Golden State, who completed a Western Conference finals sweep of Portland to reach their fifth straight NBA Finals.

Leonard, who downplayed suggestions he was injured after the gritty game-three victory, looked hobbled at times — wincing noticeably after dunking on Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo in the third quarter.

“I think he’s fine,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said. “He’s logged a lot of minutes. He’s certainly tired, like a lot of guys in this series are.”

But Lowry said Raptors “understood” that Leonard wasn’t going to be 100 percent and knew going into the contest that “everybody has to step up and stay focused on the game plan.”

Fred VanVleet , who missed 16 of 20 shot attempts in the first three games of the series, connected on five of six from the field, draining all three of his three-point attempts.

“I think the first two games they really brought the intensity to us. They came out and were more physical were more active,” Powell said.

“We wanted to change that narrative and protect home court. We wanted to come out with a lot of juice, be more aggressive, be more physical and take the game to them. I think we really did that.”

Two home wins gave the Raptors some breathing room as they head back to Milwaukee, but Lowry said they’d done nothing more than hold serve.

“They did what they did at home and we did what we’re supposed to do at home,” he said.

Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, said there was no feeling of panic among the Bucks.

“The feeling is not any different,” he said. “We’ve still got to get better, stick with our game plan. (We’ve) just got to play with more energy, execute better, but our feeling is the same.

“They did their job, they protected home, we’ve got to do our job now.”