After a nail-biting 92-89 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Toronto Raptors are now heading to the second round of the NBA playoffs. After the game, local Milwaukee journalists were, for good reason, optimistic about their team’s future and seemingly at peace with the reality that, despite coughing up a 25-point lead, that the Raptors were the better team.
Here’s what they said following a dramatic Game 6:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel— Bucks close gap on future
To be sure, the Bucks are a player or two away. They definitely need another shooter. Mirza Teletovic was supposed to be a floor spacer and wound up being a bench fixture; he didn’t even play Thursday.
You don’t necessarily want Dellavedova shooting threes and even if Terry comes back, he’s a 15-minute man at this point in his career. So priority No. 1 is to find a perimeter player who will complement Middleton and Tony Snell.
Thon Maker has a tremendous upside but he’s got to get stronger.
And let’s not forget that Jabari Parker should be back at some point next year. If he’s 80% of the player he was the night he went down with a second ACL tear, the Bucks are that much better.
There’s no shame in losing to a superior team. The Raptors had the deeper and more talented roster. DeMar DeRozan was every bit as good as Antetokounmpo and he’s got more weapons around him.
“Toronto was just the better team,” Kidd said.
For now.
By the time that new arena opens, the Bucks could well be the beasts of the East.
BrewHoop— Bucks unable to cap off improbable comeback
…The crowd was game for this one. Combine that atmosphere with a pair of Thon blocks and some baskets, and things get pretty loud. Milwaukee immediately came out swinging, pushing the lead to 8-2 and forcing Duane Casey to take a timeout.
…Momentum continued to tilt in Toronto’s advantage. Milwaukee could never muster a string of points to get them back in the game and the Raptors went to the locker room with a 51-38 advantage. A 6-of-22 shooting performance in the second quarter created a hole for the Bucks to dig themselves out of.
The slide continued for Milwaukee as the third quarter began. A 9-4 Toronto run polished an 18 point deficit for the Bucks, and you could just feel the energy deflating out of the arena. That lead would eventually reach a disappointing 20 points, and Milwaukee never could conjure up an answer.
Milwaukee Bucks 2016-17 season time of death: 7:44 p.m. (Editor’s Note: Gabe valiantly left this in despite the Bucks’ dramatic comeback)
The above line occurred when DeMarre Carroll hit a contested three over Giannis. That provided Toronto with a 25 point cushion. This has me asking, can Eric Thames play basketball?
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Journal Sentinel— Frantic comeback falls short in Game 6
DeMar DeRozan paced Toronto with 32 points and Kyle Lowry had 13, and Raptors coach Dwane Casey was relieved his team held its composure against the Bucks’ rally.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Casey said. “To close out on the road is one of the hardest things to do in the NBA. We made it hard on ourselves with turnovers and not getting stops.
“We just kept fighting, kept scratching and kept competing. First of all, those guys (Bucks) did a heck of a job. They changed it up tonight, stopped blitzing as much and got us into more of a 1-on-1 game. We fell into the trap.”
The Raptors trailed early as Antetokounmpo scored the first eight points for the Bucks and Milwaukee had a quick six-point lead.
But Toronto gradually took control and led, 51-38, at halftime behind 16 points from DeRozan. The Raptors shot 46.3% from the field (19 of 41) and limited the Bucks to 35.9% shooting (14 of 39)…
Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas was a plus-15 at halftime while playing just 13 minutes. He excelled as the screener on the pick-and-roll with DeMar DeRozan.
Some national writers were left practically speechless by what went down Thursday night:
Meanwhile, the Raptors’ second round opponents had a decidedly more relaxing night:
On TNT’s Inside the NBA, Charles Barkley said that he knows DeMar DeRozan believes the Raptors can beat the Cavs in the next round, but isn’t convinced the rest of the players around him feel the same way:
And then there’s this:
Instead of making the wrong kind of history, the Raptors are off to face the Cleveland Cavaliers. Game 1 tips off Monday night in Cleveland.
