SPORTS
Saturday, May 25, 2019
East Oregonian
B3
Stakes are high as Bucks, Raptors meet in Game 6
value in keeping Antetok-
ounmpo’s minutes below
40.
“You need to be able
to produce and perform,
including in the fourth quar-
ter, so I don’t feel any differ-
ent about how much we use
him,” Budenholzer said.
Antetokounmpo played
39 minutes in Game 5. He
played 45 minutes before
fouling out in Toronto’s dou-
ble-overtime win in Game
3, but hasn’t topped 39 in
any other game this postsea-
son. His regular-season high
was 42, in an overtime loss
to the Knicks on Dec. 1.
Turnover turnaround
Toronto trailed 16-4 after
making its fourth turnover
of the game with 7:55 left
in the fi rst quarter of Game
5. The Raptors had just two
more turnovers the rest of
the game, one each in the
second and third quarters.
By IAN HARRISON
Associated Press
TORONTO — There’s
no escaping the reality of
what’s at stake when the
Toronto Raptors host the
Milwaukee Bucks in Game
6 of the Eastern Conference
fi nals on Saturday night.
The surging Raptors
have won three straight,
putting them on the brink
of the fi rst NBA Finals
berth in team history.
The Bucks, who fi nished
as the NBA’s top team in
the regular season and once
led this series 2-0, have no
more room for error after
their fi rst three-game losing
streak all season.
These two teams have
spent months trying to
stay even-keeled, treating
everything as just another
game. That’s starting to get
a lot tougher.
“It’s an elimination
game,” Bucks coach Mike
Budenholzer said Friday.
“It’s just a fact.”
Raptors coach Nick
Nurse added to that, sug-
gesting the outcome of
the series could have fran-
chise-altering implications.
“These are games that
now have signifi cance as
far as one team’s going one
direction, and one going the
other, possibly,” Nurse said.
No doubt. Milwaukee
starters Khris Middleton,
Brook Lopez and Malcolm
Brogdon are all headed for
free agency, although the
Bucks can match offers for
Brogdon. Nikola Mirotic
is also a free agent this
summer.
AP Photo/Frank Gunn
Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (43) dunks against the Milwaukee Bucks late in the second half of Game 5 of the NBA
Eastern Conference Finals in Milwaukee on Thursday. Toronto won 105-99.
The Raptors, mean-
while, have no bigger free
agent than two-way star
Kawhi Leonard, who can
opt out of the fi nal year of
his deal. An NBA Finals
berth, or better, in Leon-
ard’s debut season north of
the border would certainly
be a boon to Toronto team
President Masai Ujiri when
free agency opens on June
30.
MVP candidate Giannis
Antetokounmpo and the
Bucks need a win to pro-
long their hopes of reaching
the fi nals for the fi rst time
since 1974. Then a Western
Conference team, Milwau-
kee lost to Boston in seven
games. One season later,
star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
left for the Lakers, and the
Bucks haven’t played for a
ring since.
Toronto won twice in its
previous Eastern Confer-
ence fi nals appearance, tak-
ing Games 3 and 4 at home
against Cleveland in 2016.
After that, LeBron James
and the Cavs showed their
class in Games 5 and 6,
outscoring the Raptors by a
combined 64 points.
Cleveland swept the
Raptors out of the second
round in each of the past
two seasons, but LeBron’s
departure from the East and
Leonard’s arrival in Canada
have helped put Toronto in
its best position ever.
With his team heading
home in need of one more
win to set up a fi nals show-
down with Golden State,
Nurse knows the Raptors
still face a daunting task in
Game 6.
“As hard-fought as
all these have been, and
believe me, they have been,
I expect this one to be the
hardest fought of them all,”
Nurse said.
Here’s what to know
before Game 6:
No limits
Nurse won’t be worrying
about how much playing
time his stars log on Satur-
day night.
“It’s a whatever-it-takes
game,” he said. “It’s an
unlimited-minutes night.”
Breather benefi ts?
Budenholzer, on the
other hand, said he sees
More Middleton?
Middleton shot 2 for 9
in Game 5, the second time
this series he has taken
fewer than 10 shots. MId-
dleton has had 11 or more
attempts in Milwaukee’s
other 12 postseason games.
Budenholzer said he didn’t
mind the low shot total in
Game 5, pointing to Mid-
dleton’s 10 assists.
“The ball is in his hands,
he’s making great decisions,
he’s doing things that are
really positive and really
impactful,”
Budenholzer
said.
Middleton had one
10-assist game in the reg-
ular season, against Miami
on March 22.
Italian bid edges Swedish rival in 2026 Olympic host study
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
Associated Press
GENEVA — The Italian
bid to host the 2026 Win-
ter Olympics in Milan and
Cortina d’Ampezzo looked
stronger than the Stock-
holm-Are project in an IOC
analysis of the candidates
published Friday.
Polling by the Interna-
tional Olympic Committee,
which typically looks to get
a warm welcome from host
nations, showed “83% sup-
port in Italy” and “55% in
favor in Sweden.”
The evaluation report
said the Swedish bid team
“considers such fi gures
to be high in the Swedish
context.”
The 144-page document
was produced for IOC mem-
bers, with about 90 of them
set to pick the winner on
June 24 in Lausanne.
To have 55% public sup-
port was “huge” for Sweden,
where the people’s mentality
was to be questioning, bid
chief executive Richard Bri-
sius said.
“‘If you say yes, I’d rather
say no to challenge you.’
Actually, I’d be worried if
everyone was totally behind
it,” Brisius said in a confer-
ence call.
Italian public authorities
have provided more fi nan-
cial guarantees than in Swe-
den to underwrite billions
of dollars in operating and
security costs. Regional
authorities in Lombardy
and Veneto — “two of the
wealthiest regions of Italy”
— are the “driving forces
behind the candidature,” the
report said.
The Swedish bid lacked
“binding venue funding
guarantees” for the ath-
letes village in Stockholm
and the two new sports are-
nas planned, for speedskat-
ing and a venue to be shared
by cross-country skiing and
biathlon.
“We have the strongest
letter of intent you can write,
even if you don’t already
have the land,” Brisius said.
The IOC evaluation
team suggested using exist-
ing ski venues in Falun and
Ostersund.
The Italian bid has pri-
vate funding in Milan for the
only new arena, for hockey,
and an athletes village being
built as “much-needed hous-
ing” for university students.
Both projects are planned
to be built regardless of the
hosting vote result.
Italy also was highlighted
for its “passionate fans,
knowledgeable volunteers
and skilled event organizers
(which) would all combine
to deliver an outstanding
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IOC experts did sug-
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ues to ease possible logistics
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For the second straight
Winter Games vote, the IOC
has been left with only two
candidates. Beijing won nar-
rowly over Almaty, Kazakh-
stan, to get the 2022 Olym-
pics after several contenders
withdrew lacking public
support for a project widely
seen as too expensive.
Two European candidates
for 2026 remain after contend-
ers including Graz, Austria;
Calgary, Canada; Sapporo,
Japan; and Sion, Switzerland,
all dropped out. The IOC also
eliminated the Turkish bid of
Erzurum from the contest.
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