East feast: Raptors, Bucks still hungry
PERIOD: St. Louis, Schwartz (Edmundson, Tarasenko), 2:34. Penalties: Hertl, SJ, (tripping), Bouwmeester, STL, (tripping), Kane, SJ, (tripping), 15:46.
PERIOD: St. Louis, Dunn 2 (O’Reilly, Perron), 4:16. San Jose, Couture 12, 4:55 (sh). San Jose, Couture 13 (Meier), 6:54. St. Louis, Bortuzzo 1 (Edmundson, Bozak), 16:34.
Penalties: Sorensen, SJ, (interference), 4:42, Dillon, SJ, (delay of game), 19:31. THIRD PERIOD: 6, St. Louis, Sundqvist (Pietrangelo, Steen), 16:52.
Penalties: Thomas, STL, (hooking), 10:37, Thornton, SJ, (tripping), 12:42.
GOAL: St. Louis 6-9-10—25. San Jose 9-6-11—26.
POWER PLAYS: St. Louis
San Jose 0-of-2.
GOALIES: St. Louis, Binnington 9-6 (26 shots-24 saves). San Jose, Jones (25-21). A: 17,562.
Refs: Francis Charron, Wes McCauley. Linesmen: Derek Amell, Scott Cherrey. 4:04, 6:34,
There’s a one-name superstar on either side: Giannis and Kawhi. There’s a Bucks franchise that hasn’t been to the NBA Finals in 45 years, opposite a Raptors franchise that has never been to the title round. The Bucks have a coach with an economics degree who wasn’t there last year; the Raptors have a coach with an accounting degree who wasn’t the boss last year.
Similarities abound
Bucks and Raptors.
Over the next couple of weeks, one team will separate itself.
The top-seeded Bucks play host to the second-seeded Raptors on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
They had the best records in the NBA this season — the Bucks went 60-22, the Raptors 58-24 — and one will have home-court advantage for the NBA Finals starting May 30.
“You can’t get caught up in people’s expectations,” Raptors star Kawhi Leonard said Tuesday. “You’ve got to worry about selfexpectations, team expectations, and winning, and that’s what we have to focus on. It doesn’t matter about the one-on-one match-up. This game isn’t a one-on-one basketball game.”
Leonard made the shot that sent the Raptors to the conference final, a between the buzzer-beating corner jumper over Joel Embiid that bounced on the rim four times before dropping.
The Bucks, predictably, were
They weren’t rattled. The team with the best regular-season record also has the best record in these playoffs so far at 8-1, and confidence isn’t in short supply. The Bucks’ only blemish in these playoffs is a Game 1 loss at home against the Celtics in the second round.
“Against Boston, you can go down 1-0 and you’ll still be fine,” Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said Tuesday. “But against Toronto, it’s hard to be in that spot, to lose the first game in your home.”
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer is acutely aware of all that Leonard brings to the table. He was an assistant with the Spurs when Leonard was getting started there — after the Spurs, somewhat ironically, traded George Hill to the Pacers for Leonard’s draft rights. Hill is now the Bucks’ backup point guard.
“He made a great first impression on San Antonio on his teammates, on his coaching staff,” Budenholzer said when asked about his early days with Leonard. “Just the ability to get loose balls, rebounds and all kinds of little things. But to think that he was going to evolve to the player he is I don’t know when that happened.” impressed. Colleges: The NCAA will form a working group to consider how its rules can be modified to allow athletes to be compensated for their names, images and likenesses. NCAA rules forbid athletes in most circumstances from receiving benefits or compensation for their names, images and likenesses from a school or outside source.
NBA: The NBA and the National Basketball Coaches Association are creating a program intended to prepare and identify a more complete pool of future NBA coaches, the league told ESPN. The NBA and NBCA want to better identify, train and prepare coaches among underrepresented groups, including women, minorities and those of all religions and sexual orientations.
NFL: Free-agent defensive end Dion Jordan told NFL.com that he’s facing a 10-game suspension for taking Adderall, a violation of the league’s policy against PEDs. Jordan, 29, who already has been suspended twice for substance abuse and once for a PED violation, said he had a therapeutic use exemption to use the drug in the past, but it had expired.
Soccer: English Premier League champ Manchester City hasn’t been cooperating with investigators and may face a one-season Champions League ban for violating financial monitoring rules, The AP reported. ... The Revolution hired five-time MLS Cup winner and former U.S. coach Bruce Arena as coach and sports director. Arena, 67, replaces Brad Friedel, who was fired last week as coach, and Michael Burns, who was fired Monday as GM.
Also: Four-time tournament champ Serena Williams withdrew from the Italian Open ahead of her secondround match against sister Venus because of a previously injured left knee. Serena beat Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson on Monday in her first match since withdrawing from the Miami Open in March due to the injury . ... Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan signed a six-year contract extension through the 2024-25 season . ... Polish Sports Minister Witold Banka, 34, was chosen as next president of the World Anti-Doping Agency.