Not Antetokounmpo’s day
Smaller lineup helps Raptors
Often in the NBA playoffs, a series can come down to which team’s star shines the brightest. Heading into Game 4 Saturday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, Giannis Antetokounmpo had played that role in the Bucks-Raptors series, helping Milwaukee take a 2-1 lead by averaging 23.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 55.8% in the opening three games.
That changed in Game 4.
Dogged by Toronto’s defenders, Antetokounmpo never found his rhythm on the way to a 6of-19 shooting performance and a career-hightying seven turnovers in Milwaukee’s 87-76 loss that evened the series at two games apiece.
“Just throwing bodies,” Antetokounmpo said of Toronto’s defense. “I was just missing shots.
Toronto, which went with a smaller lineup, brought help early and often, trying to congest Antetokounmpo’s driving lanes and vision. That scheme proved effective almost immediately.
Antetokounmpo missed his first five shots before depositing a layup late in the first quarter. He also had four turnovers before halftime, three on bad passes and one when he stepped out during a baseline drive.
Antetokoumpo’s slow start didn’t have a huge negative effect on the Bucks considering the two teams scuffled through the opening period and entered the second quarter tied at 19. By the end of the second, though, his shooting struggles were all but forgotten.
He made five shots in a row heading into the half, including a 6-0 personal run that culminated in an emphatic dunk that gave the Bucks a 33-26 lead — their largest.
But after intermission, Antetokounmpo scored only two more points, both at the free-throw line. He went 0 for 7 in the second half and committed three turnovers as Milwaukee’s offense ground to a standstill.
He had muddled through the first three quarters of Game 2 in Toronto but took over in the fourth quarter to get the Bucks back in the game. He tried to rediscover that magic Saturday, only to miss all five of his shots and commit a pair of turnovers in the final period.
“I thought he was looking to try to pick the team up,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “He could see that guys weren’t making shots, so he thought he could do it. Again, that’s what the great players do. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make a shot either.”
Antetokounmpo didn’t necessarily feel he was trying to put the team on his back. Rather, he said he was just trying to get them going. Either way, it didn’t work and Milwaukee’s offense, which often runs through Antetokounmpo, was uncharacteristically stagnant.
That can’t happen again in Game 5 on Monday night at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.
“We need to do a better job moving the ball, find the open guy,” Antetokounmpo said. “The Raptors are collapsing in the paint and we need to do a better job of finding the open man and take care of the ball. If we do that we’re going to be in a great position.”