Impact could last for Raptors, Bucks

TORONTO — There’s no escaping the reality of what’s at stake when the Raptors host the Bucks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night.

The surging Raptors have won three straight, putting them on the brink of the first NBA Finals berth in team history.

The Bucks, who finished as the NBA’s top team in the regular season and once led this series 2-0, have no more room for error after their first three-game losing streak all season.

“It’s an elimination game,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said Friday. “It’s just a fact.”

Raptors coach Nick Nurse added to that, suggesting the outcome of the series could have franchise-altering implications.

“These are games that now have significance as far as one team’s going one direction, and one going the other, possibly,” Nurse said.

No doubt. Milwaukee starters Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and Malcolm Brogdon are all headed for free agency, although the Bucks can match offers for Brogdon. Nikola Mirotic is also a free agent this summer.

The Raptors, meanwhile, have no bigger free agent than two-way star Kawhi Leonard, who can opt out of the final year of his deal. An NBA Finals berth, or better, in Leonard’s debut season would certainly be a boon to Raptors President Masai Ujiri when free agency opens on June 30.

MVPcandidate Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks need a win to prolong their hopes of reaching the finals for the first time since 1974. Then a Western Conference team, Milwaukee lost to the Celtics in seven games. One season later, star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left for the Lakers, and the Bucks haven’t played for a ring since.

With his team heading home in need of one more win to set up a finals showdown with Golden State, Nurse knows the Raptors still face a daunting task.

“As hard-fought as all these have been, and believe me, they have been, I expect this one to be the hardest fought of them all,” Nurse said.