The seven-foot Brazilian with the sea anemone hair and the non-stop smile listened intently, his face sober and serious. Lucas (Bebe) Nogueira would joke later that he asked Raptors teammate Norman Powell to adopt him when he gets his next contract, because Bebe always jokes. But mostly, his dinner-plate eyes wide, he listened.

“I just ask him, how,” said Nogueira, after Toronto’s 118-93 blowout of the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of their first-round series. “Because I think he’s the best value in the league. He makes $900,000. And tonight he plays like a $20-million player. I struggle with my focus and my confidence, and I see him in here every day. Every day. He doesn’t play, but he never complains. I’m not saying that just because I’m in front of you. He never complains. And he’s an inspiration to me. He is really an inspiration.”

Powell had just exploded for a playoff career-high 25 points, along with four rebounds, four assists, three steals, one block on 8-for-11 shooting. He was fearless, defiant, effective. It was the defining game of his young career, and he sat in his leather chair in a white shirt and an off-white jacket waiting to join his all-star teammates on the post-game podium. And Bebe, the joker, came over to ask advice.

“He’s talked to me about how he’s proud of me and how I motivated him,” said the second-year Powell, in a quiet moment. “But he really came to me about how he feels about me, and everything I’ve been through, and how I came to work, and my focus, and my potential. So I just tried to give him a little motivational words to keep his focus ... I just told him about keeping goals in mind, setting expectations for himself, no matter what anybody says. Seeing the bigger picture and working towards that, no matter what happens.”

Powell wasn’t the only reason Toronto won the game, but he was a reason. This team has struggled with its confidence in this series, especially moving and shooting the ball in the face of Milwaukee’s long-limbed blitzing. Houston coach Mike D’Antoni likes to say that the ball finds energy, and when it does, it changes everything. It’s the mysticism of basketball, the intangible, the ineffable, but not the ineff-up-a-ble.

And in this game, with point guard Kyle Lowry working through back stiffness, and DeMar DeRozan off to a cold start, it was the other Raptors who set the tone. Serge Ibaka opened with a three and a driving dunk. DeMarre Carroll was even hitting floaters.

And Powell, with his don’t-ask-questions style, never seemed to have a moment of doubt. Early in the game Powell, who is six-foot-four in shoes, drove and tried to score over Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is approximately 19 feet tall with his arms outstretched. It didn’t work, but I bet Norm Powell wouldn’t blink if he opened a door and found a tiger on the other side.

And as the game went on, with the Raptors moving the ball, Powell found more cracks than anyone. Powell started 18 games when DeRozan was injured, and then was put back under glass: he played a combined six minutes in the first two games of the series. He’s at a combined 68 the last two games.

Raptors guard Kyle Lowry says DeMar DeRozan helps him keep a level head when he obsesses over past games. Toronto bounced back from a devastating Game 3 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks to level the playoff series in Game 4.

“I think Powell has come in with a lot of energy on both sides of the ball,” said Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd. “They are feeding off of that ... he’s picked them up here in the last couple of games, just with his energy and his spirit. Somehow we have to match that. We’ve got to have someone who can match his spirit to give us a chance.”

Despite some hiccups the Raptors led nearly wire to wire, and looked like the team they are supposed to be. When they made shots, they seemed more likely to share the ball, starting with Lowry and DeRozan. The ball found energy, and eventually everyone joined in. This was the Raptors team that is better than the Bucks, and should know it.

“I think that’s the biggest thing and the most important thing, is just sharing the ball, and the more you share the ball the more guys get confidence in themselves and the more Kyle and DeMar trust us,” said Carroll, who had 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. “So we just got to keep doing it, keep trying to gel.”

It is also the deepest Raptors team in franchise history, and Powell is one of the pieces. After his three-pointer to make it 70-55 with eight minutes left in the third — the sixth of seven straight made three-pointers over two games — he stared down the Bucks bench. Confidence. With 4:42 left and the game almost out of reach, he drove baseline and dunked over approximately 27 combined feet of Milwaukee Bucks. Norm. He dunked one last time with 36 seconds left, a valedictory. Finally, a real Raptors playoff blowout.

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Afterwards, Powell talked about studying tapes of Kyle Korver and Larry Bird to improve his three-point shooting, which wasn’t a strength when he came into the league. He talked about extra work and adjustments, but also shooting it like he meant it.

And before that Bebe wandered over, and asked his 23-year-old teammate for advice.

“It means a lot,” said Powell. “He’s very open, expressive about his feelings, and I didn’t know what he was going to talk about. It’s something special when the guys around you see your work, and see everything that you’re going through, and how you’re pushing, and being an inspiration to them. It means a lot. It definitely hit home for me. It just makes me want to be that much better teammate to him, and to the rest of the guys.”

Norm couldn’t get over Antetokounmpo when he tried, but the Raptors could. They should know they are the better team, now. All they need to do is believe it.