{"id":1310693,"date":"2019-05-25T22:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T04:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/leonard-scores-27-raptors-advance-to-first-nba-finals\/"},"modified":"2019-05-25T22:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T04:28:00","slug":"leonard-scores-27-raptors-advance-to-first-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/leonard-scores-27-raptors-advance-to-first-nba-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonard scores 27, Raptors advance to first NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"
Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard (2) and Kyle Lowry (7) react during the second half of Game 6 of the team’s NBA basketball playoffs Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, May 25, 2019, in Toronto. The Raptors won 100-94 to advance to the NBA Finals. (Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/strong>
AP | The Canadian Press<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Kawhi Leonard had 27 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Toronto Raptors into the NBA Finals for the first time with a 100-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The Raptors overcame a 15-point deficit to win the series in six games and will host the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

It will be the two-time defending champions against a Raptors team that will finally bring the NBA Finals outside the U.S. after entering the league in 1995.<\/p>\n

Pascal Siakam scored 18 points, Kyle Lowry had 17 and Fred VanVleet 14 for the Raptors, who used a 26-3 run late in the third quarter and early in the fourth to turn the game in their favor.<\/p>\n

Lowry held the game ball and picked up his children after the game, finally getting to the championship round after the Raptors kept falling short against Cleveland.<\/p>\n

They needed something more to get further and they found it the acquisition of Leonard, the 2014 NBA Finals MVP who was acquired from San Antonio and carried the Raptors in this postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the best player in the league and we\u2019re happy he\u2019s in Toronto,\u201d Raptors President Masai Ujiri said.<\/p>\n

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks, but the NBA\u2019s top team in the regular season saw its bid for a first finals berth in 45 years come to a disappointing end with a fourth consecutive defeat.<\/p>\n

Down 76-71 to start the fourth, the Raptors tied it with an 8-2 run while Leonard and Antetokounmpo were both on the bench. Ibaka\u2019s dunk with 10:32 to go tied it at 78.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo returned after a timeout, but Leonard kept sitting. That didn\u2019t matter to Toronto, with Siakam\u2019s basket giving the Raptors an 80-78 lead, their first lead since it was 6-3.<\/p>\n

Leonard\u2019s one-handed slam after Lowry\u2019s steal gave Toronto an 87-79 lead with 6:46 to go before the Bucks responded. George Hill answered with a layup, Brook Lopez converted a three-point play and Antetokounmpo scored to cut it to 87-86 with 5:19 to go.<\/p>\n

Lowry and Lopez swapped baskets before Gasol\u2019s 3 put the Raptors up 92-88 with 3:50 left. After another basket by Lopez, Leonard made a 3 to push Toronto\u2019s lead to 95-90 with 3:04 to play. It was Leonard\u2019s first 3 after missing his first seven attempts of the game.<\/p>\n

Toronto made 12 of 27 3-point attempts, including four of eight in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Siakam, who missed a pair of free throws late in the fourth quarter of Toronto\u2019s double-overtime win in Game 3, hit one to make it 98-94. Leonard grabbed the rebound on the second and was fouled. He made both, putting the Raptors up 100-94 with 3.9 seconds to go.<\/p>\n

Brogdon and Middleton each made a pair from long range as the Bucks shot 6 for 9 from 3-point range in the first and closed the quarter with 10 unanswered points to lead 31-18. Toronto shot 6 for 19 in the opening quarter, missing six straight twice in the first 12 minutes.<\/p>\n

The Bucks extended their lead to 38-23 on a 3 by Ersan Ilyasova with 7:46 left until half. Toronto cut the gap to 46-43 on a 3 by VanVleet with 1:07 left in the second, but Eric Bledsoe answered with a 3 and Antetokounmpo split a pair at the line, giving the Bucks a 50-43 advantage at the intermission.<\/p>\n

The lead went back to 15 in the third before Leonard finished the period with a flourish. He had eight points in the final 2:01 and Toronto closed with a 10-0 run, cutting a 15-point deficit to 76-71.<\/p>\n

TIP-INS<\/p>\n

Bucks: Milwaukee shot 4 for 16 in the second but three of its made baskets were 3-pointers. \u2026 The Bucks had six points in the paint in the first half. \u2026 Coach Mike Budenholzer was called for a technical foul on Milwaukee\u2019s first possession of the second half. Leonard missed the free throw. \u2026 Antetokounmpo shot 5 for 10 at the free throw line.<\/p>\n

Raptors: Danny Green, who missed all three of his field goal attempts in 16 minutes in Game 5, had another rough night. Green shot 0 for 4 in 14 minutes. \u2026 Leonard\u2019s 17 rebounds were his most in any game this postseason. \u2026 Lowry had eight assists.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/p>\n

The NBA Finals comes to Canada for the first time when the Raptors host the Warriors on Thursday night. Toronto swept Golden State in the regular season.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard (2) and Kyle Lowry (7) react during the second half of Game 6 of the team’s NBA basketball playoffs Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, May 25, 2019, in Toronto. The Raptors won 100-94 to advance to the NBA Finals. (Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press via AP)AP | The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1310693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 01:22:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}