“It’s something that we can’t feel our way into”, DeRozan said. Tomorrow I can be 100 per cent. From DeMarre Carroll to P.J. Tucker to even Patrick Patterson, Antetokounmpo scored at will. After being traded to Toronto at the February trade deadline, Tucker made his postseason debut in Saturday’s game. That’s a lot of time. “I’m going to play better”. Lowry has shot under 33% in back-to-back first-round series, and he seems well on his way to repeating that type of performance against Milwaukee. “You’ve got to start up and sit there for a while before you pull off, and you go on a little road trip but once you get going, your vehicle feels like a 2016 Lexus or something. I think he’ll be ready for it”. It was the second time that Middleton had played at least 40 minutes since coming back from a hamstring injury on February 8. “It’s pretty cool, I guess”.
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Though it’s still early, they have some serious work left to do in order to get past the upstart Bucks, who came into this series raring to rumble with a huge chip on their shoulders. That in turn led to them cruise through the 4th quarter as Antetokounmpo returned to dominate and dish all over whoever the Raps threw at him. I can’t remember a game in which so many passes were tipped or intercepted. Third-seeded Toronto is looking to reach the conference finals for the second straight season while the sixth-seeded Bucks are aiming to win a playoff series for the first time since the 2000-01 campaign. And we do a lot but in this league it’s hard to do that and I imagine in the playoffs it’s even harder. “I thought they played hard longer than we did. We’re going in with an underdog mentality to prove people wrong”.
The Bucks’ defense, which was such an integral part of their second-half surge during the regular season, was stifling in Game 1.
When DeMar DeRozan said that he wanted to be the greatest Toronto Raptors player in franchise history at the start of the season, few knew he was going to have a historic year to backup his claim. “They beat us. They outworked us”.
“We have looked at the numbers, the stats, the rotations, the matchups, the groups that were in there, and there is no consistent statistic or number or group”, Casey said. Coach Dwane Casey spoke on the team’s functioning, not having a good pace or rhythm, any movement.
Most expect either Harden or Westbrook to take home the MVP trophy on June 26 after both players had stellar regular seasons. They gameplanned really well for us.
Antetokounmpo’s emergence is a big reason why the Bucks are back in the postseason for the second time in three seasons.
Antetokounmpo’s energy was equally high to start the second quarter, with a running layup, step-back jump shot, reverse dunk and driving dunk.
“The easy lay-ups, the transition lay-ups”, he said. “But it’s something we’re not unfamiliar with, being at this point”. “I’m not going to get blindsided by seeing Milwaukee”.
The Bucks dug in defensively and went on an 11-2 run to take control of the game. Toronto finished 5 for 23 from long range, with the starting five going 1 for 13.
The Raptors may yet win the series and advance, their Game 1 misery adding a new chapter to this sordid basketball story by dropping a game to visiting Milwaukee to open the best-of-seven series.
“It gets worse”, Lowry said.
But oh my goodness, we need to talk about what Greek Freak did.
“We had numerous situations where they were cracking us with screens, whether illegal or not”, Casey said.
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“I think for us, the main thing for us is to get back on defence”.
