Quick Reaction: Bucks 100, Raptors 122

Terrence Ross puts on a clinic

.grade {background: #315233; padding: 10px; border: 3px solid #977252; color: white; font-size:35px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;
margin-top: 5px}

Milwaukee100Final
Box Score
122Toronto

C
P. Siakam16 MIN, 0 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 0-4 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 8 +/-

Quiet night overall, but did block Giannis, so, he can retire happily now.

A
D. Carroll29 MIN, 13 PTS, 7 REB, 2 AST, 5-13 FG, 3-7 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -1 +/-

His man-to-man D on Giannis was pretty good, and he shot a near-50% from three. Basically what he was signed for.

B
J. Valanciunas23 MIN, 11 PTS, 13 REB, 1 AST, 4-10 FG, 0-0 3FG, 3-4 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 0 +/-

Mixed bag. He struggled to take advantage of Hensen (who is deceptively long) early on, but quickly learned he could also back-him down and just overpower him in the post.

His help D wasn’t there in the first – case in point Tony Snell walking into the lane for a layup after blowing by Lowry – but his individual defence was significantly better.

As always, his usage faded after the first.

A
D. DeRozan32 MIN, 30 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST, 7-11 FG, 1-1 3FG, 15-15 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -2 +/-

Unbelievably efficient night from the field, and the greatest thing about his stats – they’re not unique to just tonight. He’s defying every narrative that labels mid-range jumpers as inefficient.

Did a great job of getting to the line, and despite Beasley playing tight D on him, he just couldn’t stop DeUnstoppable.

A
K. Lowry34 MIN, 18 PTS, 3 REB, 7 AST, 5-9 FG, 4-7 3FG, 4-4 FT, 0 BLK, 5 TO, 29 +/-

Wasn’t a huge scoring night from Lowry, but he was efficient from the field and basically spearheaded the bench lineup to start the fourth which completely cut Milwaukee’s throat after their run in the third after they clawed their way back into the game.

B
C. Joseph27 MIN, 6 PTS, 4 REB, 7 AST, 3-8 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, 15 +/-

He showed signs of stopping the Bucks’ surge late in the third, and basically shook the entire defense with this sorcery:

A
P. Patterson25 MIN, 5 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST, 2-2 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 18 +/-

I don’t know how justified I am at throwing Patterson an A, but I feel he earned it despite not being a huge part of the offense. He does an insane amount of intangible things that help this team which we’ll never talk about. His help D / rotations were spot on.

A+
T. Ross21 MIN, 25 PTS, 5 REB, 0 AST, 10-17 FG, 4-6 3FG, 1-3 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 17 +/-

Unreal offense in the fourth quarter – enough to forgive his missed windmill dunk, which, had it gone down, would’ve exploded the ACC straight into space.

C
L. Nogueira20 MIN, 5 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST, 2-3 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-2 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 18 +/-

Not sure this was a great matchup for him tonight. Struggled stopping Monroe early on, and was overpowered by Giannis rebounds / put-backs in the third.

B+
N. Powell8 MIN, 7 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 3-4 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 3 +/-

Best 10th man in the league.

Nice to see him get some early burn tonight in a game where DeMarre starts. He did a respectable job guarding Giannis – albeit in very limited minutes – in the same way he put a body on Porzingis earlier this season.

Also, this was beautiful.

A
Dwane Casey

In the first half, the Raptors were flying so high that Casey was calling timeouts for no other reason other than go give the team daps. Sure, I’m sure there were basketball reasons too – but every timeout came after the Raptors were completely obliterating Jason Kidd’s defensive scheme.

Spread out the minutes well tonight amid this comfortable win.

Things We Saw

  1. In my notes at half-time I wrote: ‘Giannis and Jabari invisible’. Overall, that stood largely true, which was a testament to how well the Raptors took them out of the game.

    That third quarter though was laborious, and both Parker and Antetemkoumpo rose to make a game out of what was a blowout in every other quarter. The Bucks cut the lead from 26 to 10 in that frame, and outscored the Raptors 33-23. Obviously, Lowry + bench / Ross experience dismantled the Bucks shortly after.

  2. Nice to see Jason Kidd on the bench helpless after all he’s done to us as Net.
  3. Really, really impressive offense all around tonight. The Raptors shot 50.6% from the field and 56% from three – sharp contrast to Milwaukee’s 16.7% shooting from behind the arc.

    The backcourt was on fire, and the ball movement was really crisp. The Bucks just had no answers for the way the Raptors stretched them out over and over again.

  4. This game was eerily similar to when the Raptors blew the Bucks out of the building in 2014. Only thing missing was a Bruno alley-oop.