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More importantly – the off-ball Raptors are sinking towards the lane lines and the paint early in possessions. They are showing Giannis length to clog up driving lanes, and by being in position early, they only have to make one fluid motion to close back out to shooters, rather than the typical two-motion dig to drive that is followed by a hastily executed closeout.

Toronto is meeting Giannis early when he attacks in semi transition to slow down his momentum. Instead of giving him space to attack (like a similarly poor shooting Pascal Siakam is often provided with), the Raptors have went to the opposite end of the spectrum and met him with contact before he can build a head full of steam.

The revered Bucks transition attack, spearheaded by Giannis Antetokounmpo, has been dulled by the Raptors’ defense. While Kawhi Leonard is doing a sensational job, all 5 Raptors are pulling their weight.

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The 6 times Toronto doubled Giannis in the post in Game 5 lead to just 0.33 Points Per Possession.

Toronto has done a good job of forcing Giannis to retreat towards the sideline while they leverage non-shooters on the Weak Side of the floor to neutralize the advantage gained by putting two defenders on one player.

Even against the well-equipped Leonard, Toronto is doubling Giannis with their Centre every time he gets a touch on the low block. Regardless of where the Centre is positioned relative to Giannis, they make a B-Line sprint to the low block and the remaining Raptors cover the Weak Side.

Toronto has decided that Giannis will not beat them on his own – and that continues with their defensive scheme when he posts them up.

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While Toronto is building walls to slow down Giannis, Milwaukee has gone a different route to stop Kawhi Leonard in isolation

They have decided to influence Kawhi to his left hand on every possession. To counter this, Toronto is starting such isolation possessions on the right wing. Effectively, this means the Bucks’ choice to influence Kawhi to his left hand funnels him directly towards the paint with his defender trailing.

To increase the advantage, Kawhi is attacking his defender’s top-foot with a right-hand attack before he even attempts to go left. This forces his defender into illegal defensive position, allows Kawhi to go to his preferred right hand, and/or pushes his defender higher up the floor to create further separation before attacking the paint.