After the first half of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Toronto Raptors held a 59-51 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks and were looking sharp. Things changed quite a bit after the break as the Bucks overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat the Raptors 108-100 and take a 1-0 series lead.
The Bucks trailed for the majority of the game but they turned on a switch with just under 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. They rode their dominance on the offensive glass -- 15 to the Raptors' eight -- and a career-high playoff performance by Brook Lopez (29 points and 11 rebounds) to win their first conference finals game since June 1, 2001.
The Raptors received a 30-point performance from Kyle Lowry on 10-of-15 from the field, but the rest of the team struggled from the field as Toronto converted on just 37.0 percent of their shots. Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points, but did so on just 10-of-26 shooting from the field.
Although the Bucks won this game, they were drastically outplayed by the Raptors during the first three quarters of the game.
Milwaukee could not convert on any 3-pointers and literally went 6 of 23 from 3-point range (26.1 percent) during the first half. By the end of the game, the Bucks' numbers were still poor -- 39.8 percent of their field-goal attempts and 25 percent from 3-point range -- but managed to win behind an early fourth-quarter blitz and a monster advantage in the offensive rebounding department.
While it's true that this was one game and that it was at home for Milwaukee, it has to be extremely discouraging for the Raptors to lose a game in which they outplayed the Bucks for the first 36 minutes while receiving a monster performance from Lowry.
