Bucks’ Middleton: ‘Hopefully we study from this’
Malika AndrewsESPN
TORONTO — Giannis Antetokounmpo vowed that together with his teammates’ backs in opposition to the wall, the Milwaukee Bucks would not fold.
The Bucks had suffered a disappointing Recreation 5 loss to the Toronto Raptors and, for the primary time within the 2019 postseason, have been going through elimination Saturday. Antetokounmpo mentioned then that he could not make sure the Bucks would win, however he was sure they’d struggle.
Via three quarters of Recreation 6, the Bucks did not fold. It was a recreation of pendulum swings. The Bucks fought laborious, incomes double-digit leads, solely to see them wane. Then they constructed them again up once more. Toronto ended the third quarter on a 10-Zero run that lower the Bucks’ as soon as 15-point result in 5. That proved to be the turning level in Toronto’s 100-94 series-clinching win.
“They simply made powerful photographs,” Malcolm Brogdon mentioned. “We made our errors, and so they capitalized.”
It wasn’t supposed to finish this manner. After almost each one of many Bucks’ regular-season wins, Antetokounmpo or Brogdon or Khris Middleton would say that the win was good, however they have been enjoying for one thing greater.
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That “one thing greater” was by no means recognized by identify, however the underlying, unnamed reality was that the Bucks had their eyes on a Finals look.
“I believe we had an important yr,” Middleton mentioned after the sport. “Sixty wins, top-of-the-line groups in NBA historical past. Obtained previous the primary spherical, which we struggled with for a very long time. Simply fell in need of our targets.”
Like in Recreation 5, the Bucks bought off to a sizzling begin in Recreation 6, constructing a 31-18 lead by the top of the primary quarter. However slowly, the Raptors crept again. Every time Toronto scored, the house crowd erupted. Every bucket, in spite of everything, bought them one step nearer to the staff’s first Finals look in franchise historical past.
With two minutes left within the recreation, followers inside Scotiabank Enviornment started to bounce. Every time the Raptors scored, pushing their lead from one to 4 and finally to 6, the scoreboard flashed video of the scene in Jurassic Park outdoors the world, the place hundreds of followers stood cheering.
Toronto’s win was sealed by two free throws from Kawhi Leonard.
The Bucks locker room after the sport was somber. Gamers dressed shortly and quietly.
“Expertise. It’s a must to undergo some issues to get to the place you wish to go,” Middleton mentioned. “So hopefully we study from this and transfer on.”
Afterward, Milwaukee’s gamers and coaches climbed the steps to their staff buses and drove slowly by way of the ocean of partygoers and Raptors trustworthy who had waited many years for his or her staff to earn an NBA Finals berth.
A Finals look for the Bucks should wait at the very least till subsequent yr.