It’s Game 6 of the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals, and inside a jam-packed Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is breathing heavy, frustrated after another fast-break opportunity is squandered. Typically in these situations, the long-limbed Antetokounmpo pierces defenses with his mile-long strides and superhuman strength. It’s in these situations, where the Greek Freak delivers a flurry of ferocious poster dunks and effortless glides to the rims. It’s these situations that have given the 24-year-old Buck the label of “the East’s new leader” this season.

Unfortunately for Antetokounmpo and the rest of Milwaukee, the Toronto Raptors had other ideas. After years of being the Alderaan to the LeBron James’s Death Star, the Raptors finally stood up to the next bully in-line. Instead of getting picked apart through mismatches, Toronto was the one to alter their scheme as the matchups dictated.

While there have certainly been numerous reasons for the Raptors advancing to the franchise’s first-ever NBA Finals, notably, Kawhi Leonard’s individual brilliance and Kyle Lowry’s toughness, none deserve more attention than the team’s hounding defense. On a team stacked with a collection of lanky wings and forwards, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse has pushed the right buttons in these playoffs, suffocating the life out of opposing offenses. Let’s take a deep dive into how Toronto has found its defensive formula heading into their Finals matchup against the Golden State Warriors.

Raptors are suffocating teams in the half-court

Toronto’s defense is as versatile as they come. They are loaded with two former Defensive Players of the Year (Leonard, Marc Gasol), two other all-defense stalwarts (Danny Green, Serge Ibaka), two bulldog point guards at the point of attack (Lowry, Fred VanVleet), and a new-age, speed demon (Pascal Siakam).

What makes this core of players so vital to the team’s defensive success is that they can switch across at least four positions, while also swarming effectively to the ball without having the rest of their defense compromised. An example of Toronto’s versatility, as mentioned earlier, was exhibited by Gasol in Game 4 against Milwaukee.

Here, Gasol flashes several fundamentals once he’s switched onto Brook Lopez in the half-court. He first demonstrates outstanding closing speed, shutting off Lopez’s shooting motion directly on the catch. Then, he shows excellent discipline to track the ball and force a turnover.

Gasol’s mobility and discipline come into play again, this time against a more challenging assignment in Joel Embiid. Despite giving up size to the burly Embiid, the 34-year-old veteran showcases savvy once the switch occurs. In both examples, Embiid hits him with the pump-fake, and both times Gasol doesn’t flinch. During the first switch, Gasol forces Embiid into an inefficient 10-foot fadeaway (which he misses). During the second one, he stands his ground at the rim as Embiid works in the PnR.

The Raptors were relatively switch-heavy against the Bucks after using a swarming-and-recovering scheme against the bigger 76ers. Two of their biggest wins in this playoff run, Game 7 against the Sixers and Game 5 against the Bucks, came as the Raptors failed to shoot even 40 percent. Winning in that manner is very hard to do in the modern NBA, but it’s something Toronto can survive because their unit is intelligent and talented enough when the game goes off-script.

What does it mean when the game goes off-script, you ask? It means when a team makes adjustments on the fly, how does the opposing team respond? On defense, Toronto has excelled in this department because of length, quickness, and active hands from their wings and guards.

Take a look at these two half-court sets from Milwaukee. In the first one, Antetokounmpo drives and kicks out to Eric Bledsoe, who darts in and out and spins from the top of the key to the paint. Danny Green sticks with him like velcro as the four other Raptors retreat and stick to their man. Once Green collapses on Bledsoe’s drive, Ibaka has the wherewithal to play his position beautifully, rotating over to block Nikola Mirotic’s driving layup.

More chaos is involved in the second example. Here, Siakam is tasked with staying on an isolated Antetokounmpo. The third-year pro performs admirably, forcing Giannis to sling it back out to Khris Middleton along the wing. What makes this defensive possession special, however, is the quickness in which Ibaka and Normal Powell attack their man. It takes all but three seconds for Powell to run Middleton off the line and get into Ersan Illyasova’s face to force an off-balanced corner three.

Playing defense in space hasn’t deterred the Raptors. In fact, they’ve thrived in one-on-one matchups. During Toronto’s 18 playoff games this year, the Raptors defense is averaging just 0.73 points per possession (PPP) in 6.1 isolation possessions per game. Moreover, they’re only allowing teams to shoot 34% on isolation shots. Both marks are No. 1 amongst 2019 playoff teams.

Nurse has staggered his lineups with size in the interior during stretches. He often calls it the “jumbo lineup”, which consists of Gasol, Ibaka, and Siakam. Nurse says he utilizes that lineup because it’s the most active of all the other combinations, as well as the most difficult to score on.

“Our communication, scheme, switching, blitzing, our rotations, contesting shots, all those things have been growing here since the start of the playoffs,” Nurse said to The Athletic’s Eric Koreen. “The other thing is there are some moments, like stretches, we call them consecutive stops, and there are some stretches where it’s darned hard to complete a pass against us. That wears into a team after a while when you’re up into them, and you’re denying, and everybody is just that connected and playing that hard.”

Raptors know how to get back on defense and play their man

In addition to suffocating offenses in the half-court, the Raptors’ defense is also excelling in transition. Toronto is allowing 1.10 PPP in 17.6 fast-break opportunities per game, which is fifth-best in the playoffs, per Synergy. Unlike the Pistons and Celtics, the Raptors were the only playoff team to slow down the Bucks in transition.

Toronto’s transition defense stands out because they send multiple defenders back at once. As you’ll see below, the Raptors’ defense rarely puts a single defender on an island. If Toronto has one player streaking back, in this case, Siakam, then they’ll have another player (Van Vleet) cutting off the ball handler’s driving path.

Toronto’s tactic forces the ball-handler to do one of two things: force up an errant shot at-the-rim or stop the fast-break completely. Because the Raptors do such a good job getting back, this allows them to constrict offenses once they cross half-court. Observe as Toronto funnels all of Milwaukee’s offensive action early in the shot clock.

The Raptors’ personnel is quick enough to get into the gaps and prevent any chances of an uncontested look. This is why they hold the second-best defensive field-goal percentage in the playoffs from shots 15 feet or further (32.6%) and from 3-point range (31.3%).

Can this work against the Warriors?

It’s one thing to put together stop-after-stop against the Philadelphia’s and Milwaukee’s of the world, but can Toronto actually stymie the greatest group of shooters in NBA history? While the Warriors are untouchable with Durant, they are somewhat beatable without him. It will take maybe the best defensive stretch in NBA history to keep these Warriors down, but Toronto has a slim chance.

These Raptors are far superior to the patchwork Cavaliers team that got swept by the Warriors last June. In fact, they might be the best team Golden State has ever faced, at least defensively, in the Finals. Toronto has everything you need to disrupt the Warriors’ high-power engine: arguably the best defender in basketball in Leonard, and a treasure trove of versatile defenders with enough big-game experience to stave off any nerves.

But is it enough?

Let’s see what you’re really made of, Raptors.