THE MILWAUKEE BUCKS took down the Toronto Raptors 108-100 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals thanks to Brook Lopez.
Milwaukee got down by as many as 12 points in the first half and 10 in the third quarter, but thanks to 29 points from Lopez, including 13 in the fourth, the Bucks were able to outscore Toronto 32-17 in the final frame to earn the win.
The 29 points for Lopez is a career high in the playoffs, surpassing the 28 he scored with the Brooklyn Nets in 2013. He also added 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.
“It was a complete team effort,” Lopez told TNT after the game.
“We’d been playing with pretty good energy, pretty good defence all game, the shots just weren’t going down for us and we knew that.
“So we just knew we had to keep grinding, keep grinding, that’s what we’ve been doing all season long.”
The Raptors got a superb performance from Kyle Lowry, who scored 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting, but it was not enough as Milwaukee closed out the game with Lopez’s great final quarter and some solid defense.
Khris Middleton grabbed a steal and easy bucket at the other end to stretch the lead late and Eric Bledsoe had a couple of steals and transition lay-ups in the third quarter which helped to cut into the lead.
The Bucks lead the series 1-0 with Game 2 scheduled for Friday in Milwaukee.
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