Behind Kawhi Leonard’s huge night of 35 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds, the Toronto Raptors took the driver seat in the ongoing Eastern Conference Finals via Game 5 road victory, 105-99 inside the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
Fred VanVleet backed Leonard’s effort with a 21-point outing to propel his team as victors and inch closer in entering the NBA Finals and face the defending champions Golden State Warriors.
Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam also had big contributions of 17 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 14 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists respectively.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee faces its first elimination game on Saturday when they visit a partisan and hostile environment in Scotiabank Arena, Toronto. This is after they absorbed their third consecutive defeat in these playoffs (first time in the season) at the hands of Toronto.
Leading MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo led his team with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. He was supported by Eric Bledsoe’s 20 points (with 4 rebounds and 2 assists), Malcolm Brogdon’s 18 points (with 11 rebounds and 6 assists), Brook Lopez’s 16 points (and 8 rebounds) and George Hill’s 12 points (with 8 rebounds).
Evidently missing from the Bucks’ offense is first time All-Star Khris Middleton who only mustered 6 points but gathered 10 boards and dished out 10 dimes. Nikola Mirotic and Ersan Ilyasove, two perennial contributors for them went scoreless in the game and failed to crack any basket throughout the 48-minute duration.
Game 6 is on Saturday where Toronto tries to wrap the series up and Milwaukee fighting to stay alive and force a deciding Game 7 back at home.
