Getty Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks dribbles the ball while being guarded by Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors in the fourth quarter in Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2019 NBA Playoffs at the Fiserv Forum on May 15, 2019 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee Bucks try to keep their season alive when they visit the Toronto Raptors in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday night.
Saturday, May 25 at 8:30 PM ET
Scotiabank Arena
Coverage: TNT
*All odds and betting info courtesy of OddsShark and originally posted by Bookmaker
- Milwaukee Bucks vs. Toronto Raptors (-2.5 at -115)
- Over/Under: 211.5 at -110
Kawhi Leonard & Fred VanVleet Lead Raptors to Big Game 5 Win
🖐️ @kawhileonard (35 PTS, 9 AST, 7 REB) scores 15 in the 4th, lifting the @Raptors to a 3-2 series lead with the Game 5 road W! #WeTheNorth #NBAPlayoffs
Game 6: Saturday (5/25), 8:30pm/et, TNT
Kawhi Leonard took over the game with 15 of his game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter to help the Raptors beat the Bucks 105-99 in Game 5 last night.
Sports analytics and strategy site Positive Residual broke down Leonard’s incredible performance, explaining that he dropped his 35 points on 34 percent usage and 30 true shot attempts, including 4-for-6 at the rim, 5-for-8 from beyond the arc and 8-for-9 at the free-throw line and his nine assists led to a 3-pointer, facilitating another 27 points. He just committed one dead-ball turnover.
The way the Raptors distributed the ball showed the centrality of Kawhi Leonard to their offense. According to Positive Residual, his team-high nine assists included four to Fred VanVleet, two to Pascal Siakam and one each to Kyle Lowry, Norman Powell, and Marc Gasol (all 3-pointers).
Fred VanVleet is the first player in @Raptors franchise history to make seven or more three-pointers off the bench in a #NBAPlayoffs game. The last NBA player to do so was Channing Frye (7 threes) for Cleveland in 2016. @EliasSports
Fred VanVleet had a monster game with 21 points on 7-for-9 from beyond the arc in 37 minutes off the bench and Kyle Lowry had 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Raptors outscored the Bucks 33-24 in the fourth quarter.
VanVleet has improved his 3-point shot significantly:
First 15 playoff games: 8-for-41 from beyond the arc (19.5 percent)
Last two playoff games: 10-for-12 from beyond the arc (83.3 percent)
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points, six rebounds and six assists and Eric Bledsoe added 20 points and four rebounds to bounce back from a poor performance in Game 4 but Khris Middleton struggled, scoring just six points on 2-for-9 from the field.
The Bucks were just 10-for-31 from 3-point range (32.3 percent) while the Raptors were 18-for-43 from beyond the arc (41.9 percent).
Bucks vs. Raptors Trends and Prediction
The Milwaukee Bucks are:
- 21-6 ATS in their last 27 games following a straight up loss
- 19-7-1 ATS in their last 27 road games against a team with a winning home record
- 18-7 ATS in their last 25 games following an ATS loss
- 10-4 ATS in their last 14 road games against a team with a home winning percentage above .600
- 20-8-1 ATS in their last 29 road games
- 20-8-1 ATS in their last 29 games playing on one day of rest
The Toronto Raptors are:
- No key trends
The Raptors are playing well and they just delivered one of their biggest wins in franchise history but this could be a letdown spot for them; the Bucks are a dangerous team and they lost by just six points despite Khris Middleton, Nikola Mirotic, Ersan Ilyasova and Pat Connaughton not showing up on Thursday.
Nikola Mirotic lost his spot in the starting lineup and scored zero points on 0-for-4 from the field and 0-for-3 from 3-point range in just nine minutes off the bench and he’s now 6-for-31 (19.4 percent) from beyond the arc in the series. The Bucks are -37 with Mirotic on the court and +46 with him on the bench and they won’t extend this series unless he starts to produce. I like the Bucks to come together and avoid elimination while everyone is ruling them out.
Pick: Bucks +2.5
READ NEXT: Is James Harden the 2019 NBA MVP over Giannis Antetokounmpo?