Kawhi Leonard, Raptors Stun Giannis, Bucks with Game 5 Road Win to Take 3-2 Lead

Kawhi Leonard, Raptors Stun Giannis, Bucks with Game 5 Road Win to Take 3-2 Lead

NBA

Kawhi Leonard, Raptors Stun Giannis, Bucks with Game 5 Road Win to Take 3-2 Lead

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Kawhi Leonard had 35 points, nine assists and seven rebounds as the No. 2 seed Toronto Raptors beat the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks 105-99 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday at Fiserv Forum.

Fred VanVleet posted a plus-28 and added 21 points on seven three-pointers, including one with 2:19 remaining to give the Raps a 96-93 edge:

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points, six rebounds and six assists for the host Bucks, who fell behind 3-2 in the best-of-seven matchup. Malcolm Brogdon added 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, and Eric Bledsoe chipped in 20 points.

Milwaukee led 18-4 just five minutes into the game, but Toronto stemmed the tide and pulled within three at halftime.

The Bucks held a 75-72 advantage going into the fourth, but the Raps offense caught fire in the final 12 minutes thanks in part to 15 Leonard points and a pair of VanVleet threes.

Milwaukee had a chance to tie the game in the final half-minute, but a Brogdon turnover with 26.8 seconds left gave the ball back to Toronto. Raps forward Pascal Siakam then provided the exclamation point with a dunk to put Toronto up two possessions.

The Raptors scored 24 more points from three-point range than Milwaukee and 12 more at the free-throw line. They also committed just six turnovers.

 The Raptors' Secret Weapon Has Earned a Starting Role

VanVleet's scoring stats after three Eastern Conference Finals games: 10 points on 4-of-20 shooting (2-of-11 from three-point range).

VanVleet's numbers in his last two contests: 34 points on 12-of-19 shooting (10-of-12 from deep).

The backup has been sensational, and the Raps must put him in the Game 6 starting lineup for shooting guard Danny Green to close the series.

The former Wichita State star registered a plus-28 on a night where no one else on his team was a plus-10 or better. His hot shooting complemented his tenacious defense—which Blake Murphy of The Athletic wrote was a consistent positive in the midst of the slump—to make the Bucks' 18-4 game-opening run moot.

VanVleet's threes notably came at critical moments. His last one gave Toronto the lead for good, but VanVleet also hit one to vault the Raptors to a 79-78 edge with 8:57 remaining.

Back-to-back threes in the third helped turn a 63-53 Bucks edge into a more manageable 63-59 advantage.

Without VanVleet, the Raptors would be going back home down 3-2. Instead, they're going back to Toronto for a chance to make the NBA Finals in front of their home crowd.

With all due respect to Green—a talented three-and-D player who once held the NBA Finals record for most three-pointers in the series—he's best suited coming off the bench given his slump. He's averaged just 4.2 points per game on 20.9 percent shooting in this series (18.3 percent from three).

Michael Pina of SBNation compared the numbers:'

Plus, there might be something to VanVleet's scoring rise other than the ball finally bouncing his way.

VanVleet's second child, Fred Jr., was born between Games 3 and 4 in VanVleet's hometown of Rockford, Illinois. The guard flew home for the birth, and as he told Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com, he had a lot of time to reflect on things.

"It gives you a little perspective, I guess, on life," VanVleet said on the birth of his child. "I had a lot of time to think. Had to sit at the hospital all day, had a lot of time to think, obviously a plane ride back.

"It just changes the way you're looking at things. You are not so down on yourself about everything."

VanVleet's change in perspective has clearly affected his game positively, and it would behoove the Raps to ride that wave of momentum into the NBA Finals.

Kawhi Reminds Giannis He's Far from Finished Product

Let's get a few things out of the way: At 24 years old, Antetokounmpo can do things on a basketball court that no other human being on earth can. He's also a near-NBA MVP lock after leading Milwaukee to a league-best 60-22 record.

However, his Game 5 performance in comparison to Leonard's output showed that he has more work to reach the top.

Of note, he and Milwaukee have been far less effective in half-court sets. Cleaning the Glass (h/t Dan Devine of The Ringer) highlighted this notion when mentioning the Bucks' first-half performance:


However, the Raptors are flexible and changed the game style to their liking, as Chris Vernon of The Ringer pointed out:

When Antetokounmpo is going downhill, no one can stop him. When Antetokounmpo is playing half-court offense, he becomes mortal.

Sure, he knocked down a pair of threes Thursday, but he made just 25.6 percent in the regular season.

Meanwhile, Leonard can score from anywhere on the court, which he did with relative ease en route to going 11-of-25 overall and 5-of-8 from three. He scored at the rim, from mid-range and deep at will, and the Bucks couldn't do much about it.

His performance prompted a Raptors staff member to make the following comparison, per Lewenberg:

Leonard made a tremendous impact with his passing as well, per Mike Gallagher of Rotoworld:

As far as Antetokounmpo, he excels at getting to the rim with relative ease and is dominant once there. But if he's outside the paint, the numbers drop.

Per Basketball Reference, he made 76.4 percent of his shots at the rim but made just 32.7 percent of his two-pointers from three to 16 feet. Meanwhile, Leonard excels in that territory to the tune of 45.9 percent in addition to hitting 37.1 percent of his threes.

On the other end, Leonard is simply winning this battle. Kirk Goldsberry of ESPN posted an eye-popping stat:

Antetokounmpo scored 27.7 points on 57.8 percent shooting this season, but those numbers have dipped to 23.0 points and 45.6 percent shooting in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Right now, Leonard is leading the Raps with his more versatile, all-around game. He's doing things on the basketball court that make people question what they even saw, like Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman:

Of course, the series isn't over, and the Raps must put away a Bucks team that hadn't lost three straight times this year until Thursday, per ESPN's Zach Lowe.

Right now, Toronto appears to have the edge with its more experienced veterans leading the way.

The Raps are likely a placeholder for Antetokounmpo's future league dominance, though. At some point, Antetokounmpo should continue improving and become unstoppable on a more consistent basis. That time may not be quite yet as evidenced by Game 5, but we shouldn't wait long.

What's Next?

Toronto will host Milwaukee for Game 6 on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET. A Raptors win will vault them into the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, which dates back to 1995-96.

If the Bucks win, however, then Milwaukee will host the series-deciding Game 7 on Monday at 8:30 p.m. The winner will face the back-to-back NBA champion Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, which begin May 30 at 9 p.m.