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May 17, 2019

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Rested Bucks see off Raptors in opener

The Milwaukee Bucks had not played for seven days, and it showed early in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.

The Bucks found their legs, though, just in time and rode a dominant fourth quarter to a 108-100 victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors.

Milwaukee outscored Toronto 32-17 in the final 12 minutes.

The Raptors needed a buzzer-beating shot for the ages from Kawhi Leonard in the seventh and deciding game on Sunday to get past the Philadelphia 76ers in their second-round playoff series.

Toronto carried that momentum into Wednesday. The Raptors led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter and still held a 100-98 edge with 3:31 remaining in the game.

“I think we always talk about our defense,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We start with it. I think the way that the guys competed and got after it defensively in the second half and particularly the fourth quarter just stands out to me.

“The depth, Malcolm (Brogdon) coming off the bench and playing the way he did and all the different guys we got contributing. Then obviously a big game from Brook (Lopez) on both ends of the court.

“We feel like we can get better. To get this win after pretty significant days without playing, I think hopefully we’ll be better between now and Game 2.”

Raptors coach Nick Nurse did not feel that the difficult 76ers series caught up with his team on Wednesday.

“You can maybe think that, but we were right there,” he said. “We had some good looks down the stretch.”

Lopez scored a playoff-career-best 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Giannis Antetokounmpo added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Bucks, who host Game 2 tomorrow (China time).

“In a big moment, that was a great Brook Lopez tonight,” Budenholzer said.

Lopez said, “We just stayed with what we’ve been doing all during the playoffs. The shots weren’t dropping in early ... but we just kept grinding it out.”

Brogdon added 15 points off the bench for the Bucks, Nikola Mirotic scored 13 points, and Khris Middleton had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Leonard led the Raptors with 31 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Kyle Lowry had 30 points, Pascal Siakam scored 15 points, and Marc Gasol had 6 points and 12 rebounds.

“We didn’t finish the game well,” Lowry said. “Our pace wasn’t good enough in the second half. I think we need to play with the pace we played with in the first place for the whole game.”

Lowry scored 14 of Toronto’s fourth-quarter points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field. The rest of the Raptors shot 0-for-15 in the fourth.

The Bucks scored the first 8 points of the fourth quarter to lead by one.

They took a three-point advantage on Middleton’s 3-pointer with 7:50 remaining and were up by five on Brogdon’s running dunk with 6:33 to go.

The Raptors tied the game at 98 on Lowry’s 3-pointer with 4:02 to play. Leonard’s two free throws put Toronto ahead by two with 3:31 left.

The Bucks took a one-point lead on Middleton’s steal and Lopez’s dunk, and they led by four after a 3 by Lopez with 1:55 left. Eric Bledsoe made two free throws to bump the lead to six with 42 seconds to play, and Middleton’s two free throws made the advantage eight points.




 

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