USA TODAY International Edition
Raptors flipped series to reach NBA Finals
TORONTO – The Raptors walked off the court after losing Game 2 to the Bucks by 22 points knowing something had to change.
“We just weren’t quite physical enough,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said. “We weren’t getting our screens set good enough. We weren’t getting them off their screens good enough as well. We’re going to have to be better or they’re just going to look bigger and stronger than we are, and I don’t necessarily think that’s the case. We’ve got to play a little tougher.”
But that wasn’t all. Starting with Game 3, Nurse made star Kawhi Leonard spend more time defending Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, he gave more playing time to Norman Powell, and, surprising everyone, Raptors guard Fred VanVleet summoned his best Steph Curry impersonation and couldn’t miss from 3-point range.
Combine all of that, and it explains how the Raptors turned a 2-0 deficit in a 4-2 victory in the Eastern Conference finals and a spot in the NBA Finals. Toronto finished off the Bucks with a 10094 victory in Game 6 on Saturday. How the Raptors turned around the series:
Toronto’s defense: In Milwaukee’s two victories, it shot 42.5% on 3-pointers, making 24. In the next four games, the Bucks shot 32.6%, including 14% in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors made it more difficult on Milwaukee’s shooters, who sometimes missed open shots and sometimes were defended well. Eric Bledsoe and Ersan Ilyasova were 22.2% on 3’s in the four losses, Malcolm Brogdon 31.8% and Nikola Mirotic 16.7%.
“It’s searching for the right guys and the matchups and some of the actions that were giving us problems, searching for some different coverages and things,” Nurse said earlier in the series.
Leonard’s special two-way production: Leonard averaged 29.5 points (series best), 9.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.2 steals and one block while shooting 44.2% from the field.
Then he had to expend energy trying to limit Antetokounmpo. The Bucks’ star got his points (22.7 per game), but at 44.8% from the field, he was way below his season percentage of 57.8%.
VanVleet and Powell’s production: VanVleet was 3-for-25 from 3-point range in the seven-game series against the 76ers and the first three games against Milwaukee. Then, his son Fred Jr. was born, and VanVleet couldn’t miss. He shot 14 of 17 on 3’s in the final three games, including 4 of 5 in Game 6.
He scored 13, 21 and 14 points, and the Raptors outscored the Bucks by 65 points with VanVleet on the court in the final three games of the series.
Powell averaged 10.7 points off the bench and was a big part of Toronto’s bench outscoring Milwaukee’s 142-115 in the Raptors’ four victories.