Title: Raptors margin for error against Bucks erodes from slim to none with squandered Game 1
Date: May 15, 2019
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I wrote about the Raptors missing a great opportunity in Game 1 against the Bucks, possibly using up the last of their margin for error.
MILWAUKEE – It seemed, in the wake of Kawhi Leonard’s incredible Game 7 buzzer-beater against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, that tensions would be diminished as the Raptors opened their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Milwaukee Bucks. It would be difficult for a Game 1, even on a bigger stage, to match that level of drama, and there is simply not enough emotional bandwidth to ride one rollercoaster into the other. It wasn’t so much playing with house money as it was a sort of what’s-the-worst-that-could-happen nirvana.
In theory.
It did not take long for Game 1 to turn that on its head. Anyone who thought the sweet release of a historic Game 7 would insulate them from the next challenge was off-base.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 