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“It’s really, really hard to guard with one guy, (like Giannis), he commands the attention of all five guys on the court so if you have any shooters out there at all, it makes it a tough scenario where you want to help with him but you know that his assist totals are up, (they’ll) make you pay,” he said.

As good as Antetokounmpo has been, he hasn’t done it alone. Khris Middleton is off to the best start of his career, averaging 21.8 points per game on sizzling 57% shooting from beyond the arc. Brook Lopez has been a nice upgrade in the middle and Eric Bledsoe is healthy and playing well, as is fellow guard Malcolm Brogdon.

Still, everything revolves around the do-everything forward.

“The biggest thing with him is just somehow stopping the freight train in transition,” Nurse said.

“He comes off and the floor is spread (with good shooters), and it’s like (LeBron James) and him keep on coming, they go right through your numbers and you’ve got to stand in there and take it or that you can get multiple people and hopefully you can slow him down.”

For once, the Raptors might have someone who might be able to slow Giannis down.

His name is Kawhi Leonard.

“It helps that you have somebody that can match up physically, that can take some of the hits,” Nurse said. “It’s very intimidating (when an Antetokounmpo or a James physically overpower defenders at will). Having a guy, or two guys physically that can take some of those bounces when he’s coming down the lane and guys with some length that can at least almost look eye-to-eye with him, that certainly helps. It’s really a team job to stop these guys.”