Raptors vs. Bucks: Toronto can advance to Finals with a win

The Toronto Raptors will host the Milwaukee Bucks for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight at 5:30 p.m. PST.

Ahead 3-2 in the series, the Raptors have an opportunity to close out the series tonight and advance to the 2019 NBA Finals where they’d face the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

As we in DubNation await the results, the pressing question — aside from whether Kevin Durant or DeMarcus Cousins will be playing in the title series — is which team would be the more difficult opponent for the Warriors.

There have been a lot of terrible opinions about the matter of whether the Bucks or Raptors would give the Warriors are tougher time, but FiveThirtyEight presented some of the most sober takes during their roundtable chat published yesterday. Jared Dubin and Chris Herring, in my opinion, had the best perspective on the potential Finals matchup:

JaredDubin: I think I’d be more inclined to give those things weight if this were the first year of the Warriors’ run and not the fifth, and if we didn’t know that the Warriors essentially treat the regular season as an extended preseason. Draymond Green didn’t even start caring until he went on his crash diet in March, and he’s been one of the, like, three best players in the playoffs.

chris.herring: If anything, the Durant injury is the thing to watch. They’d obviously be better positioned, and make the Raptors work a lot more, if they had him. (If for no other reason because of Kawhi presumably having to guard him at times.)

But the Warriors haven’t given us any reason to suspect they can’t win the way they are. Also, one of the Raptors’ wins over the Dubs was a game in which Curry didn’t play.

I mean, that sums it all up doesn’t it?

Anyway, feel free to join us here in watching tonight’s game and share your thoughts about who you’d rather see in the Finals.