MILWAUKEE -- In a quiet moment after the Toronto Raptors pulled off a 105-99 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals to take a 3-2 lead in this best-of-seven series and move within one win of the franchise's first trip to the NBA Finals, Raptors coach Nick Nurse was asked what allowed his team to turn this series around from an initial 2-0 deficit.

"This isn't the sexy answer, but from the first day of training camp we've been saying we're going to stay level," Nurse told ESPN. "A s---ty preseason game is just gonna get written off. A great win at Golden State, same thing. A terrible game in San Antonio, 'Let's bounce back.'

"And we've done it all year. We've kept it even-keeled. Kawhi [Leonard] has helped that. Kyle [Lowry] has been so much less emotional and a great leader. Marc [Gasol], even Serge [Ibaka], those older guys, when things have gone s---ty, it's not questioning guys, it's 'Let's figure it out.' I think it was the same today."

It's hard to argue with Nurse's assessment -- especially given that, five minutes into the first quarter, the Raptors found themselves down 18-4 at Fiserv Forum, with Giannis Antetokounmpo dunking everywhere, and the roof of the building feeling as if it might come off.

At that moment, it felt as if the game could quickly turn into another outcome like Game 2, when Milwaukee ran Toronto out of the building. Instead, the Raptors slowly began chipping away, and eventually got themselves back into it.

Once the Raptors did, that gave Leonard the chance to carry them home. And, for the latest time in these playoffs, Leonard did exactly that, scoring 15 of his game-high 35 points in the final quarter to push the Raptors over the top, and allow the road team to win a game for the first time in this series.

"The game he played tonight," Lowry said of Leonard, who also had seven rebounds and nine assists, "was a pretty good game.

"It's a pretty good game on the big stage, and on the road.

"Superstar. Superstar."

It was Leonard's back-to-back 3-pointers with 8:30 and 7:57 left in the fourth quarter that gave Toronto an 85-81 lead. Those were two of the 18 3's the Raptors made while attempting 43 of them -- typically the kind of number the Bucks like to shoot, and what wound up being two more shots than the Raptors attempted inside the arc all night.

And, even more than his shotmaking, it was Leonard's ability to guard Antetokounmpo -- not to mention his even-keeled demeanor -- that has shifted the series in Toronto's favor.

"We have one of the least emotional guys in Kawhi Leonard, but he's emotional when he needs to be," Lowry told ESPN. "We've all kind of just ... when our superstar is a guy who stays [level] ... he's our guy, he's our superstar.

"He never gets too up, he never gets too down, he misses games, he didn't play games. And when he didn't play, we went about our business. When he did play, we went about our business. And we just have to go out there and play."

Part of the reason why Leonard was able to carry the Raptors home was because Fred VanVleet, for a second straight game, stepped up. VanVleet, who had his second child the day before Game 4, put up 21 points off the bench, going 7-for-13 from the field -- including 7-for-9 from 3-point range.

He now has gone from shooting 7-for-44 overall and 3-for-25 from 3-point range over a 10-game span from the start of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers through Game 3 of this series to going 12-for-19 overall and 10-for-12 from 3-point range over the past two games.

"I guess," VanVleet said with a smile, when asked if having his child had changed things. "Zero sleep, have a lot of babies and go out there and let loose.

"[You] keep just trusting the work, and trusting your craft, and knowing that, at some point, they're going to drop."

That they started dropping now has been exactly what the Raptors needed -- though it also came as no surprise to Lowry, VanVleet's close friend.

"We always say 'next man up,' and it's been like that all year," Lowry told ESPN. "Guys have done an unbelievable job preaching next man up and tonight was Freddy's night.

"I never felt bad for him. I expect nothing but the best from him, and I expect him to keep doing that."

So much about this Toronto team is new. Nurse is a first-year head coach; Leonard, Danny Green and Gasol all arrived with the Raptors via trade within the past nine months. But the Raptors have a battle-tested group full of players who have been in these types of moments before.

It's that experience that has helped Toronto stay even-keeled through a season spent with Lowry and Leonard shuttling in and out of the lineup, with trades and injuries keeping Toronto from having its full roster more than a handful of times.

"It certainly helps, I think," Nurse told ESPN. "I think these guys have played in these games and it certainly helps, but what I'm noticing is in between games. I think the guys are really smart about preparing.

"Everybody is trying to tell them they are tired, and they're just not buying it. And they're just like, 'OK, we're winning. We have to go to work.'

"This is a hell of a team. We have to play our asses off to beat them."

The Raptors have done so three straight times -- something that hadn't happened to the Bucks all season. If Toronto can do it a fourth straight time back home Saturday night, it will be in the NBA Finals.

MILWAUKEE -- Giannis Antetokounmpo's faith in his team remained unshaken after Thursday night's 105-99 loss by the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. Sure, the loss gave the Toronto Raptors a 3-2 series lead. Sure, the Bucks had never trailed in this series.

But when Antetokounmpo was asked about whether the Bucks were going to crumple the way the Boston Celtics did in the conference semifinals, he shot back with a stern answer.

"We're not gonna fold," Antetokounmpo vowed, cutting off the question. "We're the best team in the league. We're gonna go in, give it everything we got. We can't fold. We're gonna come back to Milwaukee being pissed."

Like the Celtics, who won the first game of their series with Milwaukee before losing the next four, the Bucks have fallen into a hole in the conference finals after winning the first two games, dropping three straight to Toronto.

The Bucks had several opportunities to take control of Thursday's game. They jumped out to a 10-point lead after the first quarter, and at the half, the Bucks led by three.

The game came down to the last two minutes. Antetokounmpo slammed down an alley-oop from Malcolm Brogdon with 2 minutes, 6 seconds left to trim the Raptors' lead to one.

The Bucks' bench jumped up in celebration, and it seemed, for a moment, as though this game could go either way.

On the next possession, Kawhi Leonard missed a 3-pointer. As Antetokounmpo and Leonard jostled for the rebound, Antetokounmpo landed awkwardly on his right ankle and inadvertently fouled the Raptors' star.

Antetokounmpo headed to the bench, walking gingerly on his ankle. He had tweaked the same ankle during the regular season. With the Greek Freak on the bench, the Raptors built a three-point lead. A series of late mistakes, most notably a turnover by Brogdon and a missed jumper by Khris Middleton, proved costly.

Antetokounmpo finished with 24 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds. Eric Bledsoe had 20 points for the Bucks.

While questions swirled around the internet about why Antetokounmpo wasn't on the court for some of the game's late pivotal minutes, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said he didn't think twice about Antetokounmpo's sitting. Lowry told ESPN it was clear he tweaked his ankle.

"One thing about Giannis, he's been playing his ass off," Lowry said. "I would never blame Giannis for anything. Sometimes shots are just missed, turnovers happen, it's the game. Why does there have to be blame? Giannis is going to be [one of] the best one, two or three players in the league for the next 10 years."

After the game, the Bucks' locker room was subdued. Antetokounmpo sat icing his feet and eating a postgame snack. Eventually, he put a protective compression sleeve on his right ankle. He sternly declined to make small talk. George Hill and Bledsoe left in a hurry without speaking to reporters.

Antetokounmpo brushed off questions about his ankle, saying it felt "fine" and he "doesn't remember" what exactly transpired that led to rolling it.

He insisted the Game 5 loss didn't feel different than any other loss this season.

"I just want to win," Antetokounmpo said. "I think we had a chance to win it, but we didn't. Obviously, I'm pissed. I am not gonna lie to you. We got two more games to go."

Now, the Bucks head into more uncharted territory: trailing heading into Game 6 on the road.

ESPN's Jackie MacMullan contributed to this report.

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 Thursday's Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals that were 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.

That VanVleet was wide open was both apt and no guarantee of success. Though the Raptors were a slick-shooting squad through the latter half of the regular season (tops in the NBA after acquiring Marc Gasol), they had struggled to convert clean looks through much of the playoffs -- and no one more than VanVleet. Prior to Toronto's Game 4 home victory, VanVleet had missed 30 of his previous 35 attempts beyond the arc. But with his confidence restored after an efficient 13-point outing on Tuesday, VanVleet drained the open look -- one of his seven 3-pointers on the night -- to give the Raptors their first lead in the second half.

Over the next 60 seconds, Leonard would receive two more high screens, each drawing Bucks center Brook Lopez on the switch. Both actions would yield deliberate but nasty step-back 3-point jumpers by Leonard over Lopez.

In the biggest quarter in Raptors franchise history, the thaw of a long, cold spring had finally arrived -- and Leonard was the heat source turning thick ice into a steady flow. The Raptors would ride Leonard -- who scored or assisted on a career-high 62 points -- to a 35-point, 9-assist, 7-rebound performance to defeat Milwaukee 105-99 and take a 3-2 series lead.

"They were sending two or three bodies at him, and kind of tilting the floor and making sure guys were loaded on him," Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said of Leonard. "He was making the right passes, and we made some shots for him tonight. And then third quarter, he just -- he's been doing it all playoffs. He went into iso and get-to-your-spot, and it was pretty impressive. The game he played tonight -- 35, 9 and 7 -- was a pretty good game. It's a pretty good game on the big stage and on the road. Superstar. Superstar."

Lowry's appraisal of "pretty good" was said for understated effect, and the same can be said for the Raptors' half-court defense. For the third consecutive game, the high-octane Milwaukee offense has produced minuscule results. On Thursday night, the Bucks generated only 83.1 points per 100 possessions in the half court.

In many respects, the Raptors are beating the Bucks with the brand of scrambling, quick-to-collapse/quick-to-recover defense that had become Milwaukee's calling card. With Leonard taking the lead, Toronto accounts for Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo with multiple bodies, help coming from all directions -- weak side, baseline, perimeter.

Asked for the principles guiding their fluid rotations, Lowry told ESPN, "Play f---ing hard, send bodies, then rotate. It's not science. It's understanding the rotations, who's going, where they're going and knowing who's going to help and get out. It's tough to do, but you have to do it in this situation."

In Game 4, we saw the collective intelligence of Toronto's core on the offensive side with smart ball movement, heady misdirection and timely passing. In Game 5, that high IQ was evident in a masterful execution of the defensive game plan.

For 48 minutes, every Raptor on the floor moved decisively to plug gaps. In the final 20 minutes of action, the Bucks generated only three uncontested shots in the half court -- an alley-oop catch by Antetokounmpo and a couple of pull-up jumpers off the dribble by Eric Bledsoe. The first is unstoppable, the other two tolerable.

"The rotation comes from wherever," Lowry said. "We talk and communicate -- 'Go, go, go.' Marc will say, 'K-Low, you go.' Kawhi, Danny, Freddie. Everyone is talking. You hear the communication, you hear the professionalism, you hear everyone with an understanding of what's the next move, who's going where, who's taking responsibility."

This is entirely by design. Through a series of trades over the past year, the Raptors have populated their roster with two former defensive players of the year in Leonard and Gasol; three more All-NBA Defensive Team honorees in Lowry, Danny Green and Serge Ibaka; a spidery young stopper in Pascal Siakam; a bulldog in VanVleet; with Norman Powell no slouch for a wing of his size. There's not a weak defensive link on the roster, no one who can't be trusted with a help decision.

Offensively, the Raptors exacted just enough punishment against Milwaukee's adjustments. For example, in a possession reminiscent of VanVleet's big corner 3, Leonard drove hard into the paint, then delivered a timely kickout with five minutes remaining in the game to Gasol for an open 3-pointer. Gasol spent much of the night guarded by Antetokounmpo, who took the opportunity to help freely but was made to pay on what was an enormous shot in a tight affair.

"Every game is different," Gasol said. "Every game has its own wrinkles. Every game goes its own way. You have to be ready for whatever is thrown at you. Tonight, obviously, they changed the way they played defensively in their scheme, and we got to continue to play downhill and continue to be aggressive and attack the paint."

Earlier in the postseason, Lowry said the Raptors could match basketball wits with any team in the NBA, and their cerebral play on Thursday now leaves them just one home win away from their first NBA Finals.

As they returned to Toronto for Saturday's Game 6, the magnitude of the last year's events came into focus. Leonard didn't ask to land in Toronto for the 2018-19 season, and he has made no promises he'll remain there long term. Yet the Raptors organization made a calculated gamble: They bet on themselves. They wagered that if they could help Leonard maintain his health and surround him with a cast of competent, competitive and smart teammates, they could outlast the rest of the Eastern Conference.

In the NBA, winning is the most powerful tool of persuasion.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- C.J. Cron said he believed in spring training that the Minnesota Twins were going to have a good offense this season. Their hitting hasn't just been good, it has been powerful.

The Twins tied a franchise record with eight home runs and beat the Los Angeles Angels 16-7 on Thursday to complete a three-game sweep. The Twins, who also went deep eight times earlier this season at Baltimore, joined the 2005 Texas Rangers as the only teams in MLB history to have multiple games in a season with eight or more home runs.

"It's all just kind of clicked and hopefully there's no stopping," said Cron, who had five hits, including a home run against his former team. "When you are hitting like this it is contagious. If you look at this lineup you are going to see a lot of power. We have the ability to do that and it is nice to show it."

Miguel Sano and Jonathan Schoop went deep twice for Minnesota. Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario also homered.

It was the third time in franchise history, dating to their days as the Washington Senators, Minnesota homered eight times.

The Twins have an MLB-best 98 home runs through their first 49 games this season, putting them on pace for 324 homers. That would shatter the 2018 New York Yankees' record of 267 home runs.

The 98 homers are tied for the second-most homers through a team's first 50 games in MLB history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The 1999 Seattle Mariners had 102 homers in their first 50 games.

"It's pretty amazing. Our guys continue to go up there and not give up at-bats," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "We've had some games this season where we have hit a lot of homers. It's not as if our guys go up there swinging for the fences."

Schoop drove in four runs and Sano three as the Twins won six of seven on a road trip that began in Seattle and wound up with their first sweep in Anaheim since 1996. Minnesota, which leads the AL Central by eight games at 33-16, hit 22 homers against the Mariners and the Angels.

There were a total of 11 home runs in this game, which was originally set for Wednesday but postponed because of unplayable field conditions following a pregame storm.

The eight home runs also tied the Angels' mark for most allowed. It previously happened twice, with the most recent coming in 2005 vs. Texas.

Four of the seven hits Matt Harvey (2-4) allowed in 2⅔ innings went over the wall as the right-hander gave up eight runs for the second time this season. Noe Ramirez and Cody Allen gave up two long balls apiece.

"The long balls were killing us. It's hard, like I've said times, to tell where on the plate it is, but they came out swinging," manager Brad Ausmus said.

Tommy La Stella hit his first grand slam in the ninth for the Angels, who have dropped four straight. David Fletcher and Brian Goodwin also homered for Los Angeles.

Minnesota broke open the game in the second inning with six runs, which included a three-run shot by Schoop and two-run drive by Polanco. Harvey was chased in the third after solo homers by Cron and Sano.

The Twins hit three home runs in the seventh to extend their lead to 14-2. Sano's two-run shot and Schoop's solo homer marked the sixth time the Twins had gone back-to-back this season. Kepler added a two-run drive.

Twins starter Martin Perez (7-1) went five innings and yielded two runs and five hits.

ROAD WARRIORS

Minnesota is 18-8, batting .292 and averaging 6.96 runs on the road, which are all the best in the majors.

The Twins batted .326 (89-for-273) with 37 extra-base hits against the Mariners and Angels while outscoring them 67-27.

"We've played well on the road. We don't get distracted," Baldelli said. "I don't see any difference in how we prepare here compared to home."

TOUGH DAY

Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun came up twice with the bases loaded but was unable to get a hit. He struck out in the third and grounded into a force out to end the fifth.

LATE RELIEF

Angels first baseman Jared Walsh, who made five relief appearances at Triple-A Salt Lake this season, pitched for the first time in the majors. He gave up a run, two hits and a walk in the ninth.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Twins: Kepler bruised his right knee when he hit the wall while chasing Goodwin's home run in the ninth inning. Baldelli though didn't think it was serious. ... DH Nelson Cruz (left wrist sprain) returned to Minneapolis. He is eligible to come off the injured list Friday, but Baldelli said they are still seeing how he is doing swinging during batting practice.

Angels: SS Andrelton Simmons (left ankle sprain) saw a foot and ankle specialist Wednesday and expected to remain in a walking boot for at least two weeks. ... LHP Andrew Heaney (elbow) had a bullpen session before Thursday's game and could make his season debut Sunday.

UP NEXT

Twins: Return home and open a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox. RHP Jose Berrios (6-2, 3.39 ERA) has seven or more strikeouts in his past four starts.

Angels: Conclude their homestand with three games against Texas. RHP Griffin Canning (2-3, 3.80 ERA), who became the second Angels starter to go seven innings last Saturday against Kansas City, gets the call on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Toronto Blue Jays prospect Cavan Biggio will be called up to the major leagues for the first time Friday, sources told ESPN, confirming multiple reports Thursday night.

Biggio, a second baseman and the son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, is hitting .306/.440/.507 with Triple-A Buffalo this season.

Toronto selected the younger Biggio in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. The infielder turned 24 in April.

Biggio will join another heralded prospect in Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is also the son of a Hall of Famer, on Toronto's roster. A third baseman, Guerrero is hitting .241 with five homers and 11 RBIs since being called up last month.

The Blue Jays will be the first team in MLB history to have multiple sons of Hall of Famers on the big league roster in a season, according to Elias Sports Bureau research.

The Blue Jays are also calling up Lourdes Gurriel Jr., the brother of the Houston Astros' Yuli Gurriel, for another stint with the major league team, while outfielder Billy McKinney and infielder Richard Urena head to Buffalo, the reports said.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Mike Modano has decided to return to his NHL roots in Minnesota.

The Hall of Fame center was named on Thursday as the executive adviser to Wild owner Craig Leipold and president Matt Majka, a newly created position that Modano will assume on Sept. 1.

Modano, who played the first four of his 21 seasons in the league with the North Stars before the franchise moved to Dallas in 1993, will focus on sales, corporate partnerships and community relations. Modano held a similar role from 2013-15 with the Stars, where he played 16 years and won the Stanley Cup in 1999.

Modano, a seven-time All-Star, had 561 goals and 813 assists in 1,499 career NHL games. He's a native of Livonia, Michigan.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Veteran tight end Benjamin Watson said Thursday that he began having second thoughts about his retirement about a month ago, but he was only willing to return for a 16th season with a few teams.

That list was headlined by the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots.

Watson signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Patriots on May 9, and he is now one of the top options to potentially help fill the void created by Rob Gronkowski's retirement.

Watson, 38, called Gronkowski a "fabulous player" whom he has watched for years, but said Gronkowski's retirement wasn't a catalyst for him to change his mind. Even with the sting of not playing in the Saints' crushing loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game after he had been diagnosed with appendicitis, Watson had been moving forward in retirement.

"I started looking into other opportunities -- broadcasting, player development. I was actively looking for other options, and had a few options as well," Watson said after participating in the Patriots' voluntary organized team activity Thursday. "Then as time passed -- two months, three months -- I started thinking, 'Maybe I could do it one more time. Let's see what's out there.'

"... It was more of a family decision. My wife [Kirsten] and I talking about what that would look like for our family, and just kind of weighing the pros and cons."

As for why the Saints and Patriots were atop his list, Watson said the answer was fairly easy.

"We live in New Orleans now, obviously I just played there last year, and we love that community there," Watson said. "The kids have a lot of friends in school. Our church. Just the city itself, we really love the people there.

"And obviously [New England], it's a place where we started [as a first-round draft pick in 2004]. When I came here, I was a rookie and wasn't married. Now we have seven kids and have been married 13 years. So this place is always special to us as well. ... Having to uproot and go to a place that was new would have been tough for us."

The 6-foot-3, 251-pound Watson totaled 35 receptions for 400 yards and two touchdowns last season. Watson said he has always kept in touch with quarterback Tom Brady, joking that his texts are usually to congratulate Brady on another Super Bowl win, while Brady's texts are to congratulate him on another new baby.

Watson has played for the Patriots (2004-09), Cleveland Browns (2010-12), Saints (2013-15, 2018) and Baltimore Ravens (2016-17).

"There were two clubs, when I was retired, where I said, 'If I were to play again, I'd love to go somewhere I've been before or stay in New Orleans,'" he said. "Moving here as a rookie at 22 years old, and now coming back with a whole tribe, that's something that's going to be fun for all of us."