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Posted at 10:45 AM EST. 

8:30 PM EST. Although we pulled out of last game, we mentioned that the series was about two great players that both needed a second man to step up to get the win. Well, that assessment might be wrong because Giannis is shrinking fast. Indeed, there are still two great players --one for each team but one player can be marginalized and one guy cannot be. Try trapping Kawhi Leonard and he’ll just dribble out of it. Kawhi can use the entire floor while Giannis has about an eight-foot box. The Raps have smartly figured out how to marginalize Giannis by throwing a bunch of bigs or length on him, box him in and then watch him not get out of it. Late in Game 5 with a minute to go and the game very much in question, Giannis wasn’t even on the floor! WTF is that? We do not recall ever, a superstar being on the sidelines with a minute to go in a close game in the Eastern Conference Final.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a great player but the veteran Raps are in his head and Toronto is also in the head of everyone else on that team. Giannis doesn’t shoot threes and he’s petrified to go to the line late in games, which could somewhat explain why he was on the sidelines late in Game 5. Kawhi Leonard can’t wait to get to the free-throw line. Superstars are supposed to control the tempo of the game. Kobe always did and so did Michael Jordan. Steph and Lebron do now and so, too, does Kawhi Leonard while Giannis does not. Giannis is not a great ball-handler and he’s not comfortable pulling up either. During the regular season, Giannis was a beast and dominated but as we’re finding out, playoffs are a different animal.

This is the sixth straight game that these two will play and it’s the Raps, not the Bucks that are making and have made all the right adjustments. There is no question that Giannis has proven to be so much easier to marginalize than Kawhi. This series is about two great players, yes, but Toronto has figured out how to stop Giannis while the Bucks have figured out nothing. The Bucks are mentally reeling and so, too, is Giannis. The Deers were a -7½-point choice in Game 5 and from our standpoint, the Raps should at least be given the same credit and probably more but they’re not, which is our prompt to confidently step in at this hugely deflated price on the superior Raps at home.

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