NBA FINALS TARGET NG RAPTORS 

TORONTO – Sisikapin ng Toronto Raptors na makaabante sa NBA Finals habang umaasa ang bumibisitang Milwaukee Bucks na manatiling buhay sa Game 6 ng  Eastern Conference finals sa Sabado ng gabi (Linggo sa Manila).

Abante ang host Raptors sa best-of-seven series sa 3-2 makaraang magwagi sa Game 5 sa Milwaukee, 105-99, noong Huwebes ng gabi. Ang isa pang panalo ay maghahatid sa kanila sa NBA Finals sa unang pagkakataon sa franchise history.

Gagawin ng Bucks ang lahat para maipuwersa ang Game 7 sa Lunes ng gabi (Martes sa Manila) sa kanilang home court.

Bagama’t angat sa serye ay walang balak ang Raptors na magkumpiyansa.

“Listen, this is a great team we’re playing,” wika ni Raptors coach Nick Nurse.

“They are really good and deep and athletic and long and all kinds of stuff. This was a super hard win (Thursday), super hard. And we have to play with a tremendous amount of effort. Again, I think our keys are this: We’ve got to play good offense, not turn it over and score the basketball, because if you don’t, they’re getting what they want, which is downhill basketball in a hurry.

“If we can score it, if we can take care of it, we can get our defense set up, for the most part we get down and guard them and make the shots a lot tougher. We have to rebound the basketball. They’re a great rebounding team.”

Batid naman ni Bucks center Brook Lopez ang mabigat na hamon na kanilang kakaharapin.

“We’re just on to the next game,” ani Lopez. “We’re not thinking about winning two right now, obviously. We just want to go out there and get Game 6.”

Kumpiyansa naman si Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“I’m (ticked), I’m not going to lie to you,” sabi ni Antetokounmpo. “We’ve got two more games to go and we can do this. We’re the best team in the league, man. We’re not going to fold. We’re going to go and give everything we’ve got. We’re not going to go there and even (if) they set a great tone and come out and hit us in the mouth first — we can’t fold. We’re going to come back to Milwaukee being (ticked), like, you cannot fold. You’ve got to go out there and give everything you’ve got. If we lose, we lose. OK, cool. But we’re not going to fold as a team. That’s not what we do.”

Tulad ng dati ay pinangunahan ni  Kawhi Leonard ang scoring ng Toronto kung saan 15 sa kanyang 35 points ay nagmula sa fourth quarter. Nagdagdag din siya ng pitong rebounds at career-best nine assists.

“Just got to give credit to my teammates,” pahayag ni Leonard. “They knocked down shots (Thursday) when I gave it to them, and I’m not a guy that really controls the ball the whole game.”