The Bucks get right in The Six
After a turbulent few games, the Milwaukee Bucks got right against the Toronto Raptors, winning 128-104. Damian Lillard paced the Bucks with 25 points in as many minutes, Giannis had an odd 11/12/13 triple-double, while Gary Trent Jr. and Bobby Portis combined for 37 points off the bench. For the Raptors, RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes were the only real bright spots, scoring 25 and 21, respectively.
Game Recap
Both teams got off to a slow start, with Milwaukee starting 3/10 from the field. But an 8-0 run by the Bucks forced a Toronto timeout a few minutes later with the Bucks up 16-13. Out of that stoppage, they extended that run to 17-0 behind consecutive Bobby Portis threes. Toronto was unable to get that close in the period, primarily due to them going 1/9 from three in the period. However, some sloppy live-ball turnovers from the Bucks did allow the Raps to get the game back to single digits at the quarter’s end, Bucks up 28-19.
Brook Lopez got the Bucks off the mark to begin the second with a catch-and-shoot three, but then Milwaukee went on a bit of a scoring drought. Both teams turned the ball over a few times before AJ Green and Brook Lopez got them out of their funk with consecutive threes to get the lead back out to 13. Some really nice connections from the team—namely, a pick-and-roll from Dame and Giannis—allowed them to keep the scoreboard moving. A scary moment from Giannis contesting a fast-break layup had myself, Van, and Morgan worried on the Playback stream, but it turned out to just be a cut, thankfully. The Bucks were up 66-47 at half behind a 32-2 advantage in bench points, spearheaded by a game-high 13 from Bobby Portis.
The Bucks came out firing from three, with two triples from Dame and a nice connection from AJax off the short roll to hit Prince for another. Then the team started to have some fun. Lillard went crazy for another few threes, including a four-point play making the 2,700th of his career. The Bucks then allowed a 7-0 run behind some more live-ball turnovers, calling a timeout. The Bucks came out of the TO with a well-executed ATO for a Giannis dunk and a swing to Gary Trent for his third bomb of the night. Milwaukee ended the quarter up 99-75.
Ryan Rollins opened the fourth with a few drives to the hoop, and a Portis transition triple had the Bucks up 31 early in the final term. Some more buckets from Portis kept the lead around 30 until about halfway through, and then the deep reserves checked in. From there, it was pretty ugly for both teams, but the Bucks ran away with the win.
Stat That Stood Out
The Raptors were reminded yet again that bad shooting from three will generally result in a loss in today’s NBA. The Raps shot 9/35 from deep (25.7%) to the Bucks 22/44 (50%). Toronto also lost 63-24 in bench points.
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