MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Bucks had been shading Kawhi Leonard for days, taking away the largest, strongest and most decisive right hand in basketball. But with his Toronto Raptors trailing by a bucket inside of nine minutes remaining in Game 5 of an Eastern conference finals series knotted at 2-2, Leonard got a long step on his defender, Khris Middleton, and burrowed into the paint with his right.
Leonard was low to the floor -- more a lunge than a drive -- and as his tired legs nearly lost their balance against a collapsing Milwaukee defense, he slung a pass to the left corner, where Raptors reserve guard Fred VanVleet stood waiting, unguarded.