Thursday 7 November 2019 11:31, UK
NBA Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley said the Milwaukee Bucks are still in the driving seat in the Eastern Conference Finals despite surrendering a 2-0 series lead to the Toronto Raptors.
After winning Games 1 and 2 on the home floor, the Bucks lost Games 3 and 4 in Toronto, the former a double-overtime encounter in which they wasted opportunities to take a 3-0 series lead.
Speaking on Inside The NBA following the Raptors' series-levelling 120-102 Game 4 win, Barkley said he feels Milwaukee remain the favourites to win the series and advance to the NBA Finals to face the Golden State Warriors.
"Milwaukee are still in the driving seat," he said. "Toronto have to win a game in Milwaukee. Milwaukee do not have to win a game in Toronto. I'm concerned, if I am the Raptors, because Kawhi Leonard is not going to get better in 48 hours. These games are going to pile up. Kawhi looked 'limpy' in Game 3. Tonight he had zero explosion. You have to wonder how he will look in [Game 5].
Barkley warned the Bucks that their bench players, who made telling contributions in the Game 1 and 2 wins, must perform more consistently.
"The Milwaukee Bucks are not going beat the Raptors unless their bench unit gets back to being the better bench," he said. "The Milwaukee bench unit was killing the Raptors in Milwaukee and now, in the last two games, the Toronto bench is scoring. Giannis (Antetokounmpo) is not dominating but that Bucks bench has got to play better. They can't just play well at home."
Fellow Inside The NBA panellist Kenny Smith identified Milwaukee's defensive tenacity in Toronto as a factor in the Raptors fighting back to level the series.
"How do [the Bucks] be better? If you're Milwaukee, there is a defensive presence that isn't there. I don't think they are taking the man-on-man challenge of guarding (Norman) Powell and (Serge) Ibaka the way they did in Milwaukee." he said.
"Defensive effort is something that should be stable and should be warranted every single night. I didn't see that [from Milwaukee] in these two games in Toronto.
For the Raptors, a major plus has been the improved offensive output of their bench players in Games 3 and 4. Much-maligned throughout the playoffs, Fred VanVleet (13 points, six assists), Serge Ibaka (17 points, 13 rebounds) and Norman Powell (18 points including four three-pointers) all made an impact in Game 4.
Speaking after the game, Powell said: "In the first two games, [the Bucks] really brought their intensity to us. They came out and were more physical and more active. We wanted to change that narrative. We wanted to protect home court. We wanted to come out with a lot of 'juice', be more aggressive, be more physical and take the game to them. We really did that."
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer noted the strong play of the Raptors reserves. "Their bench, particularly tonight when they played so well as a group, stands out - 17 [from Ibaka], 13 [from VanVleet], 18 [from Powell], he said.
"Norman Powell had more shots than anyone else on their team. So credit to them and their bench tonight."
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said the performances of his bench players was vital as it allowed him to give much-needed rest to starters Leonard and Lowry.
"One of the biggest plusses that we've seen in the last couple of games is that we are functioning very well in the minutes Kawhi (Leonard) is not out there, even tonight with Kawhi and Karl (Lowry) both not out there," he said.
"We have to go 'functional' without them sometimes. They are guarding tough players, running the team, playing defense and taking a lot of shots so it's nice to be able to let them gather, get their legs, get their breath back and not have to play the whole game.
"Serge was great on the glass. Fred and Norm both gave us dribble penetration and some shooting too."
Game 5 takes place in Milwaukee in the early hours of Friday morning (1:30am) live on Sky Sports Arena.
