In the rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference finals, the Milwaukee Bucks have defeated Toronto Raptors at Fiserv Forum. The final result was 115-105 for the hosts, who led from the beginning until the end of the event.
Although Raptors threatened in the final period, coming down to four points on a few occasions, they didn’t have the power to make the ultimate push and upset the Bucks.
The hosts had a 26-point lead following Kyle Korver‘s three with 6:45 left in the second. It was 51-25 in their favor, with the possibility of seeing one of the biggest losses in Toronto’s history. It was apparent right from the start that the Bucks entered this clash very motivated and that Giannis and the boys want to roll over the Raptors.
“Definitely, I had a lot of motivation,” the reigning MVP said. “They are the team that cost us a trip to the NBA Finals. Obviously, you are going to come out and play a little bit harder and have a little bit extra juice in you.”
After 3:39 the result on the scoreboard was 12-1 for Milwaukee, and the first period ended with 36-17 for the No.1 team of the 2019 NBA regular part of the season. The same trend of demolition continued in the next sequence, with the visitors looking helpless. They showed signs of life at the end of the half, managing to decrease the deficit to 66-50.
“We played terrible. We couldn’t make a shot. We couldn’t do anything,” Siakam said of the Raptors’ first half.
It appears that the break suited well for Nurse’s team. The champions came out and poured 40 on Bucks defense in those 12 minutes while allowing 29 points. Kyle Lowry was outstanding, delivering 17 of his 36 buckets in those moments. Raptors’ point guard was on fire, but later, in the final period, he contributed with just two points.
Toronto came down to 107-102 with 2:24 to go, but their next defense decided the match. Pascal Siakam got his 6th foul, George Hill sunk both free throws, and that was pretty much it. Nurse challenged the call, but after reviewing it, it was confirmed.
Fred VanVleet wasn’t that worried about this defeat. According to his words, this is a regular-season matchup, and bad shooting nights like this aren’t going to repeat for his team.
“We didn’t go into this with a playoff game-plan scheme,” he said. “We had a good game plan. We didn’t execute it very well. There’s going to be games like that.”
The Raptors were 3 of 18 in the first period.
VanVleet had 12 points, 7 assists and 6 boards. Lowry led the way with 36 buckets 6 assists and 4 boards, 11 of 18 from the field, and 5 for 9 for three.
Siakam had 16, Gasol 10 points and 12 rebounds.
For the Bucks, Giannis was near a triple-double, 36 points, 15 boards, and 8 dimes. He also had 4 rejections. Eric Bledsoe posted 14, while Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez had 11 each.
Milwaukee travels to Minnesota, while Raptors go back home, to host the Sacramento Kings this Wednesday.
