The Toronto Raptors are well aware they let a golden chance slip away on the road, as what looked like a confident effort to steal home-court advantage suddenly turned into the Milwaukee Bucks flexing their hometown muscle in the fourth quarter.
Danny Green, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka were among the few who could not buy a bucket, as no Raptor made a single basket in the final frame besides point guard Kyle Lowry, who carried the team on his back with a 30-point effort:
“When you've got a team down like that you've got to be mature enough and professional enough to try to keep them there,” said Green, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN. “Obviously it's a great ball club over there, but this is one I thought we could have gotten… I felt like we let it slip away.”
Gasol would rather not dwell on the mistakes made and look forward to what the team can do to bring the next one home:
“The game is over,” said Gasol. “We've gotta look back at it and learn but we can't think too much about it like ‘should've won, should've lost'. You come out in Game 2 and you try to win that one, but you can't replay this one.”
The Raptors needed role players like Ibaka to come through in moments like Game 1, as they are a perfect 6-0 when he scores 10 or more points for them:
“I know that and I told myself after the loss that I have to play better for my team to have a chance to win,” said Ibaka, who is aware of this stat. “It's pressure but it's good pressure.
“Personally, I think I need to do a better job. I know every time I bring my energy my teammates feed off that. I didn't bring that last night. I'm going to do better next game.”
The Raptors still have a chance to steal a game on the road during their upcoming tilt on Friday, but they will have to have a much-improved collective effort to muster that win and take away the Bucks' vital home-court advantage.
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