Raptors eliminate Bucks: 3 takeaways from Game 6
After nearly blowing a 25-point second-half lead, the Toronto Raptors held strong and knocked off the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 6.
The Milwaukee crowd certainly got itself up for a do-or-die contest and weren’t going to let their team fall at home without a fight — and neither would their Greek God, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
In the opening frame, he drove, backed-down, and pirouetted his way to 14 points. He would finish the first half at an efficient 7-of-13 from the field, but the rest of the Bucks team shot 7-of-26. The Raptors played suffocating defense, harnessing everything the Bucks wanted to do and forced them into chucking ugly attempts.
The divide between the two teams grew into a canyon in the third quarter. Behind a barrage of 3’s, the Toronto lead ballooned as big as 25 points. But the Bucks weren’t going quietly into the night. They fought back, causing the crowd to come alive with each basket and every stop. Milwaukee put together a 20-3 run, spanning from the third quarter into the fourth.
The roof came off when Jason Terry, cooler than cool, nailed two insanely clutch 3’s, forced a turnover, and grabbed a big rebound. Some say momentum is a false paradigm, but it was palpable during that run.
That momentum shift lasted up until the final two minutes, as the Raptors grappled and clawed to regain the upper hand. The game was a microcosm of a back-and-forth series, serving as a fitting conclusion.
Takeaways
DeMar DeRozan wasn’t having a Game 7. DeRozan came to the Bradley Center to chew gum and close out the series, and he ran out of gum. From the get-go, he was a constant flowing stream of energy to the rim. No Buck could stop him, no matter how long, tall, or athletic they were.
He made hard-nosed drives, impossible-angled finishes, and ended with a team-high 32. Then, in the waning moments of Game 6, with his team in dire need of a basket, he uncorked this:
They don’t give out MVPs for a first-round series, but DeRozan had the biggest games and made the biggest plays for the Raptors.
You gotta make your free throws. They’re one of the simplest facets of basketball, pauses for 15-foot set shots; brief stoppages for a stationary play interjected in a sport of perpetual motion.
So often these mundane occurrences are the difference between a win and a loss. Such was the case for Game 6. Milwaukee shot 50 percent from the line in the fourth quarter, going 9-of-18. In a matchup decided by inches, a precious few more makes completely changes the game and possibly/probably swings the outcome.
Fatigue certainly hindered the Bucks’ free throw abilities, as multiple shots barely struck front iron. Giannis played 47 minutes, Middleton, 42, and both were visibly exhausted, seen hunched-over between plays gasping for air.
The Raptors fared much better, shooting 7-of-9 from the stripe in the ultimate quarter, and it made all the difference.
Jason Kidd stuck to his guns. Dwane Casey saw his team floundering after Game 3’s loss and made an adjustment to his lineup. It wasn’t a knee-jerk overreaction, straight from the hot-take Thunderdome, it was a necessary adaptation to beat the opponent at hand. Coming into Game 6, the biggest take from the series was the change that pushed Toronto to the brink of the next round and what Jason Kidd’s countermeasure would be.
Kidd decided to stick with the same starting five and lineup combinations he’s gone with all series. The break-in-case-of-emergency lineup of slotting Giannis at the 5 and surrounding him with shooters will have to wait till next year for any significant minutes. Yes, an elimination game isn’t the best time to experiment, but drastic times call for desperate measures. Putting Giannis at center would have thrown a monkey wrench into Toronto’s gameplan and put them on their heels.
While Thon Maker and Greg Monroe both had lengths of success and provided benefits for their team, they’ve also been exposed. Maker for his hoops naiveté, Monroe for his slow feet. Since Kidd couldn’t fuse the two together to create Gron Makroe, his best option was going for a stretch without either — until science catches up.
Dusting off John Henson for his first action of the series wasn’t the answer.
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The Raptors move onto the next round and a rematch of 2016’s Eastern Conference Finals. They will square off on Monday night against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.