BUCKS AT THEIR SCARY BEST IN THUMPING RAPTORS
Here is some analysis of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final: the Toronto Raptors really needed to win Game 1.
Two nights after Milwaukee pulled out a series opener that the Raptors led most of the way, the scary version of the Bucks showed up on Friday, running Toronto off the court from essentially the opening tip. Giannis Antetokounmpo dunked once, and then twice, and then he swatted away a Marc Gasol dunk attempt, and the whole early sequence would end up a microcosm of the Raptors’ night. They were down 14 after a quarter, and 25 at the half, and they were staring right into the bared teeth of an angry predator of a team that showed what it could do when it hit its shots. Kawhi Leonard scored 31 in the losing effort, which ended in a 125-103 Milwaukee win that was about as comfortable for the home side as these things get.
The Bucks shot 49 per cent from the field in that first half, with any number of them working the crowd at Fiserv Forum into a lather. The Raptors, meanwhile, hit just 37 per cent of their shots in the opening half, with a couple of starters who were hoping for bounce-back games instead going the other way. Gasol and Danny Green started a combined 2-for-12 from the field, leading to a quick hook for the big Spaniard and some first-half minutes for Jodie Meeks. Desperate times, et cetera.
Now the Raptors find themselves heading home for Game 3 on Sunday night needing a win rather desperately to make this a series. They are also in an 0-2 hole for the first time since the second round against Cleveland last season, which presaged an ugly sweep and kicked off a summer of change for the franchise.
It was hard not to notice the parallels with that series against the Cavaliers, where Toronto collapsed late in the opening game and never recovered.
It’s not a perfect comparison — the loss to the Cavs was at home and the Raptors had many chances to win it with a layup in the dying seconds, where Wednesday’s loss to the Bucks was more of a straightforward home-team-comes-alive-late scenario — but the key similarity is that the Raptors had a chance at a tone-setting win in which the opposing team’s best player wasn’t at his nightmare-inducing best, and they let it get away from them. Last year, LeBron James blew them off the court in Game 2, compounding the problems caused by that Game 1 loss; would Antetokounmpo do the same thing to them in the second game of the Eastern Conference final?
Raptors coach Nick Nurse spent much of his time with the media on Friday morning insisting that he liked what he saw in Game 1, minus the result.
“I thought we had a tremendous effort,” he said.
If there was any friction at all, it came when Nurse fielded questions about his rotations in the opener, when all the starters played heavy minutes and all, other than Kyle Lowry, struggled down the stretch. The coach sounded like someone about done with the second-guessing on lineups that happens at this time of year. “It’s always right when you win, and it’s always wrong when you lose,” he said, which was a reasonable point. If the Raptors had pulled out Game 1, Nurse would have been praised for riding with his starters.
Nurse said he doesn’t watch television or go on the internet between games, because he doesn’t want to know what is being said about his team.
“To me,” Nurse said, “they are just a bunch of ” — he paused here, and the media collectively wondered if we were about to see a donation to the swear jar, but then he offered an anticlimactic finish. “Words,” Nurse said.