 | Milwaukee | 97 | Final Box Score | 83 | Toronto |  |
 C | S. Ibaka36 MIN, 19 PTS, 14 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 8-14 FG, 1-4 3FG, 2-4 FT, 3 BLK, 1 TO, -16 +/- This is the highest grade anyone is getting tonight, and it reflects the fact that Ibaka was the best Raptor. Nice stat line, made some big plays, especially in the first quarter where he owned the paint. But neither he, nor any other Raptor, could slow down Giannis and when the collapsing started because of that Milwaukee started hitting 3s. His ability to switch, his mobility and leadership defensively is why he’s here, and he didn’t have that tonight when the team needed it most late. | ||||||||
 F | D. Carroll24 MIN, 5 PTS, 4 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-3 FG, 0-1 3FG, 1-3 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, -15 +/- Well, Carroll managed to score on two weird drives, one of which ended in a dunk. That’s all he did, really, in the 24 minutes he played. His defense was awful, looked like he didn’t want to shoot on offense, and just generally looked out of place. I defended him starting last week, but it was in the hopes it wouldn’t be this much of a trainwreck for the starting lineup. | ||||||||
 D | J. Valanciunas24 MIN, 9 PTS, 9 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-5 FG, 0-0 3FG, 5-7 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -14 +/- “The return of playoff Jonas”. I tweeted about this before the game, and how I was looking forward to it. Instead, we saw one good quarter, the second, and a whole lot of invisible Jonas. Outside of that second frame he didn’t bring much on offense, and let Milwaukee have whatever they wanted on defense. To say he was a nonfactor is inaccurate, he was a huge factor for the Bucks pulling away in the second half. That second quarter saved him from a F, because it really was a good quarter and he needs to bring that for full games. | ||||||||
 D- | K. Lowry34 MIN, 4 PTS, 2 REB, 6 AST, 2 STL, 2-11 FG, 0-6 3FG, 0-1 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -22 +/- I’m giving Lowry a D- instead of an F only because I think there’s a lot of rust at play here. He has only played a handful of games in the last two months, and maybe this should’ve been expected. On the other hand, this is the playoffs, and he’s supposed to be the best player for the Raptors. He couldn’t hit the shots he did take, shouldn’t have taken quite a few of them, and turned down a handful of good shots. At the same time he couldn’t contain Malcolm Brogdon, a rookie, on defense. Lowry has to be Lowry for the Raptors to be great, and he wasn’t even close tonight. | ||||||||
 C | D. DeRozan39 MIN, 27 PTS, 8 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 7-21 FG, 0-2 3FG, 13-14 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -16 +/- DeMar gets a C as well, mostly because this was an A+ at halftime. The first half was everything we’ve come to love about his game. Aggressively attacking what the defense gave him and scoring with ease, while not forcing his game. Also looked good defensively in the first 24 minutes. Nearly had the dunk of the year twice before missing both of them, showing his aggressiveness. Unfortunately, halftime happened. When the rest of the roster came out after half with no intensity, he didn’t bring it either, as he forced some tough shots, missed some good ones, and generally just didn’t have it. This bled into his defensive game, where he looked like the old DeMar in the second half. Give me more of the first half, and the Raptors are a better team. | ||||||||
 C | P. Tucker29 MIN, 7 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 2-7 FG, 1-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 1 +/- The good with PJ is what it always is. He brings toughness and works hard regardless of the opponent or game. On the other hand, he couldn’t contain Giannis in the slightest when matched up on him, and didn’t bring the raised intensity from his teammates he has coming off the bench in past games. The Raptors need him to be a leader. | ||||||||
 D | C. Joseph27 MIN, 3 PTS, 0 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 1-5 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, 1 +/- About the only thing Cory did well tonight was generate some assists, otherwise it was a poor effort. He’s been scoring lately, and didn’t have that tonight, but more than that he has to be a defensive factor and he was terrible there tonight. When Matthew Dellavedova put Cory on his butt with a crossover, that about summed up his defensive game. | ||||||||
 D | P. Patterson16 MIN, 3 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 1-3 FG, 1-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -3 +/- It’s hard to remember many notable moment for Patterson tonight, and maybe that sums up his game in itself. He was invisible, largely, and that’s not good enough. The bench as a whole wasn’t a factor for most of the game, and the Raptors need their depth to be a strength. | ||||||||
 C | N. Powell6 MIN, 5 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-4 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -2 +/- There was a lot of clamoring on social media for Norm to get minutes with Carroll struggling, and I’d imagine that’d be much easier if he hadn’t struggled so much the last few months defensively. It’s a tough series for him anyways though, with Milwaukee being a big, long team, and Norm being short, despite his wingspan. | ||||||||
 C | D. Wright2 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 4 +/- Only played in garbage time, and that’s probably about all he’ll see in these playoffs. | ||||||||
 C | F. VanVleet2 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 4 +/- He’s in the same boat as Delon here. Maybe one of them sees some time if Lowry and Joseph continue to struggle, but if that’s the case the Raptors have larger issues. | ||||||||
 C | J. Poeltl2 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 4 +/- I don’t know how you get him in the rotation, but if Valanciunas continues to have as many issues as he had tonight, he might find himself playing playoff minutes. | ||||||||
 C | L. Nogueira1 MIN, 1 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 4 +/- With Bebe sitting being Poeltl in the rotation, who also isn’t playing, expect garbage time to be about all we get from him. | ||||||||
 F | Dwane Casey Maybe it’s not on Casey that Lowry just didn’t have it tonight and the team’s energy wasn’t there. But, on the other hand, where were the adjustments? Where were any rotational or lineup adjustments as the game fell apart? He needed to find answers as the game went on, and all we got were more questions. | ||||||||
Things We Saw
- It feels weird to harp on defense this much in a game where the Raptors only scored 83 points, but this was a slow game, and the Raptors managed just a DRtg of 110.2 against a Bucks offense that wasn’t good this year. Toronto can’t defend like they did here and expect to find postseason success.
- I’ve been thinking about the Raptors as a contender to make the ECF and the Finals, and those ideas took a serious blow here. You can’t throw away quarters in the playoffs, and that disturbing trend from the regular season showed again tonight. They have to find consistency throughout games, and stop being a different team in different halves.
- I know I wrote last week defending Carroll as starting small forward, but if he’s not better maybe PJ Tucker needs to start. It’s tiring watching the Raptors suck to open games and knowing that it’s just who they are. Be better.
- The Lowry and DeMar can’t get it done in the playoffs narrative won’t go away if they keep having games like their combined 9/32 tonight. I know DeMar scored 27, but the whistle might not be as kind every night, and the defense might not bite as often on his pump fakes. They have to lead.
