When the season started, the quest for the best player and team in the Eastern Conference began after LeBron James left Cleveland, taking his talents to Los Angeles.
Even Milwaukee standout Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn’t sure who would take his place.
“I didn’t know we were going to be in the Eastern Conference finals or not,” Antetokounmpo said. “I just know that he’s a top player (and) we always had problems against him and the Cavs. Now he’s not playing for the Cavs so it’s going to be a little bit easier. I didn’t see it as an opening. But when you look back and see how everything went, it’s definitely an opening not having LeBron in the East.”
The Bucks are three wins from taking full advantage of that opening, and becoming the team that replaces James after his eight consecutive seasons going to the NBA finals as a representative of the Eastern Conference. Game 2 of the East final is Friday night in Milwaukee, where the Bucks will aim to take a 2-0 series lead over the Toronto Raptors.
“We’re happy,” Antetokounmpo said, “but the job is not done. We’ve got to protect our home. We’ve got to be able to get Game 2.”
Toronto got swept out of the 2017 and 2018 playoffs by James and the Cavs. Now they’re already facing a 1-0 deficit against Antetokounmpo and the Bucks after dropping Game 1 despite leading for 37 of the game’s 48 minutes.
“Sometimes we just missed some shots,” Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said.
The way the Raptors see it, the adjustment to make the finals might not be an adjustment at all. They liked most everything but the outcome of Game 1 – a 108-100 Bucks win – and figure if they play the same Friday night, they’ll have another chance at stealing home-court advantage.
“This team has handled downs pretty well and ups pretty well, and that’s been one of our focuses since day one of training camp,” Raptors Coach Nick Nurse said. “So let’s hope we can keep that going a little bit.”
The Bucks won despite shooting just under 40 percent and 11 of 44 from 3-point range. They made up for that on defense and the backboards, holding every Raptor not named Lowry nor Kawhi Leonard to 1 of 23 shooting after halftime, and outrebounded Toronto, 60-46.
Still, Toronto insists it’s not worried about the offense.
“Everything starts on the defensive end,” forward Serge Ibaka said.
NUGGETS: Forward Juancho Hernangomez underwent surgery to fix a core muscle injury.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.