Giannis freight train aside, Bucks dig the long ball

Before the Raptors decamped to Milwaukee for Game 1 of the second Eastern Conference final in franchise history, Marc Gasol spent a few minutes pondering the question of the moment: How, precisely, does Toronto’s NBA team plan on stopping Giannis Antetokounmpo, the seven-foot freight train who drives the Bucks?

Will Pascal Siakam be the Greek Freak’s primary defender, as in the regular season? Will Kawhi Leonard get the assignment when things get dire — or simply outdo Antetokounmpo in this impending battle of superstars? Or might even Gasol, the former defensive player of the year who was so effective at stymying Philadelphia seven-footer Joel Embiid, take a piece of the action? The answer, to be clear, is likely all of the above.

“It’s a team effort. And it’s a constant effort, and it’s a multiple-effort thing,” Gasol said.

So, to be clear: Effort will be required. That’s not being funny. That was a point still being made by Toronto coach Nick Nurse on Tuesday, when he mulled over what’s been learned in Toronto’s playoff run to date.

“Let’s be honest: we had some great moments where we looked awesome, and we had some moments where we didn’t play very well,” Nurse said. “I hope we learned how proportionate our effort is to how well we play, and learn to not have any more of those games.”

Indeed, if the Raptors provide the kind of lackadaisical performance that

was on display against Orlando in Game 1, or in Philadelphia in Games 3 and Games 6 — all disappointing losses for Toronto — it’s hard to imagine their showdown with the NBA’s best team will last long. There’s a reason why the shortest series odds in Vegas sportsbooks are tacked to Milwaukee winning in five, and why Toronto comes into Game 1 as a six-point underdog. One magical Game 7 shot against the Sixers does not a championship contender make.

Still, the Bucks are attempting to do something that hasn’t been achieved often — specifically, go from losing in the first round in one season to reaching the NBA final in the next. And they’ve done it without significantly transforming their team beyond the addition of head coach Mike Budenholzer, who was a candidate to replace exiled Raptors coach Dwane Casey before he chose life in Milwaukee and Nick Nurse got the Toronto gig.

The Bucks have transformed themselves with a relatively simple shift in philosophy. Last season, which saw the January axing Jason Kidd as head coach, they shot about 17 mid-range field goals a game. This year they whittled that total to about eight. What’d they do with those nine field-goal attempts? They moved them, and a few more, behind the arc, where the Bucks went from shooting the sixthfewest three-pointers in the league last season to launching more bombs than any team not named the Houston Rockets this season. They come into Game 1 leading the East in three-pointers made per game in the post-season with 13.4.

“Any time we’re open from three, it’s a good shot in our mind,” Budenholzer told reporters Tuesday. “If you tell guys to shoot it, they’re usually pretty happy … We always do want to balance it with attacking the basket, getting to the paint, collapsing the defence. We don’t want to be just a three-point shooting team.”

They’re not just a three-point shooting team thanks to Antetokounmpo, who led the East in scoring with 27.7 points a game while shooting a remarkable 58 per cent from the field — the best percentage of any NBAer who averaged 17 or more points a game. While the rest of the Bucks embrace the long ball — and while Antetokounmpo shot a vergingon-credible 32 per cent from deep this season — the man they call the Greek Freak is about the short game. He led the league in scoring points around the basket this season, shooting 74 per cent from the restricted area. So it’s no secret why he’s been described oneman fast break. When he drives the lane, rim protection is more a faint hope than a tactic.

“He still is now (a one-man fast break),” Gasol said. “And yes, he has shooters around him and drivers, but if you give up 60 per cent of paint points you are going to have big trouble winning that series.”

Milwaukee, for the record, scored about 45 per cent of their points in the paint during the regular season.

“(Antetokounmpo’s) got the speed dribble, he’s got the shoulder hits, he’s constantly running people over, he’s spinmoving, and he’s big and long,” Nurse said. “Even if you do a great job, he can still reach out over the top of you and lay it in sometimes … So the challenge, I mean, you guys have seen them play, you’ve gotta try to slow him down in transition, which is more than a oneperson job — it’s probably a five-person job. The guys that are out there, they have to build walls and build ’em early so the freight train doesn’t get going too fast.”

Which is not to say Antetokounmpo is indefensible. As good as he is in close, he shot exactly half as accurately, 37 per cent, from the rest of the paint and the mid-range. So if you can get him to pull up for an in-between jumper, you’re golden. And if you’re willing to stand firm as the diesel speeds through you — well, the Greek Freak clearly takes a certain pleasure in turning opponents into pancakes. This season he led the league in committing charges. Considering the Raptors lead the playoffs in drawing them — Kyle Lowry accounting for 10 of Toronto’s 15 — let’s just say this series figures to be tough on referees.

“You’re gonna have to stand in there (against Antetokounmpo),” Nurse said. “The one thing I’m super proud of our defence is we stand in there and we take hits, and we take charges.”

Getting run over, mind you, might qualify as a situational strategy. But as pre-series metaphors go, it doesn’t exactly spell optimism. Nurse, for his part, was of the mind that his team’s seven-game struggle with the Sixers will have them in top form against the idle Bucks, who closed out their five-game series against the Celtics a week ago.

“There’s certainly a theory or history that the team that’s been on edge stays on edge, and we’ve certainly been on edge and had to play at a very high level,” Nurse said. “Hopefully we get right back into that same vehicle.”

Hopefully that vehicle is reinforced with well-armoured body panels and sufficient horsepower to outspeed a freight train.