Rather than collapse in the face of adversity, the Toronto Raptors cleared a 0-2 deficit in the series to take a 3-2 lead at the dawn of the sixth game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena.
This may be new for the city of Toronto, but it is not new for Kawhi Leonard. The Raptors’ star knows a lot about NBA playoff games with the San Antonio Spurs.
The experience of Leonard and other players seems to have a lot of value for the Eastern Conference final.
“The experience is for a lot of people,” Leonard said after helping the Raptors clear two more than 10-point losses in their away win at match five.
“I have already been in this situation. I played in the NBA Finals so it’s not new to me. You just have to have fun and enjoy the moment. That’s what I told my teammates on Thursday, as we trailed by 10 points.” Leonard added.
If the recent Raptors teams have had their share of trouble in the playoffs, the 2018/19 team seems calm and comfortable in tough situations.
The best example came in the fifth duel. The Raptors made four turnovers in the first five minutes of play and trailed 18-4 in the first quarter.
The Raptors then made only two turnovers for the rest of the game. They won 105-99 even though they only managed 36.9% of their shots on the box, relying mostly on an excellent midfield defense to contain the Bucks offense. In attack, Leonard and Fred VanVleet managed key baskets.
The Toronto Raptors’s Kawhi Leonard. (Source:www.nypost.com)
“I think the experience is helping us in many ways,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said.
“I think we can obviously talk about situations at the end of the game. Players have already experienced this and they know how to handle these moments.
“There is also a question of rest, because the matches are fast and intense. The players give us 40 minutes and they know they have a day and a half to recover.” he added.
The five Raptors starters in the fifth game had a total of 264 playoff games before the start of the playoffs. The starters of the Bucks totaled only 88.
The winner of the Eastern Final will take on the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
