Quick Reaction: Bucks 100, Raptors 106; Series tied 1-1

Talk about a Jekyll and Hyde performance. He couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn to start the game but finished with some huge threes in the second half. He shot his shot all night long as evidenced by the 15 field goal attempts and kept the Raptors’ momentum up with two huge back to back blocks on Thon Maker and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Imagine what life would be like without him on this roster? *shudders*

Carroll made up for his defensive woes…slightly. He finished two of three from deep but couldn’t get his free throws to drop again. He’s now just two of six from the charity stripe and looked downright soft on defense. It’s tough to grade a player when you have to guard the Greek Freak each night but man, it’s not even close.

JV did exactly what he needed to do. He exposed Maker with his size inside and when Greg Monroe came on he basically took a seat. He finished with another double double and was aggressive early. He had the crowd going with a big dive for a loose ball and continues to remind fans how important he is to this team being successful in the postseason.

One of the more frustrating Kyle Lowry performances to watch. One one hand he scored 18 more points than he did in Game 1 but on the other hand he almost threw away the game with head-scratching turnovers. He continues to flop and the refs have had enough. Almost any other player in the league would have drawn a foul on Giannis for the push-off at the end of the game, but not Lowry. Still, he hit an absolute dagger at the end of the game and this could be the return of KLOE.

An oddly quiet 23 points from DeRozan tonight. Made his shots from the line, got to the basket, and shot 50 percent against the octopus arms of the Bucks. Can Bucks have Octopus arms?! Either way he got it done and flew under the radar with the erratic play of Lowry and the shot-blocking/shot-making of Ibaka. We’re spoiled watching him every night and his shooting woes in the playoffs are starting to trend in the right direction.

Suffered a scary moment when he went to the locker room with his shoe off and limping but it turned out to just be a sprained right toe. He came back and made some quality “hockey passes” to set up big time shots. He constantly jumped passing lanes and disrupted the Bucks’ offense. The stats don’t often tell the whole Patterson story as we know by now and tonight was no different.

The Bucks did well to avoid Tucker for large stretches of the night but P.J. always finds a way to take your lunch money. Tucker played his role perfectly and watching him lock up The Freak despite giving up about three hundred feet in wingspan is truly inspiring. His energy is contagious and he laid it all out on a night the Raps needed to win.

Still struggles to create and finish shots on offense but had a nice drive late in the game that showed a ray of hope. He held on to the ball for too long again tonight and seems almost timid with Lowry back on the court. He shot well including three of four from deep though and any time CoJo is going to give you that shooting performance you’ll take it. Still made some brutal passes out of the paint and needs to adjust to the length of the Bucks.

Casey adjusted to the Bucks’ transition game well tonight and constantly pushed the Raps to move the ball up the floor. It helped that the Raptors made shots tonight and he was forced to play Carroll a little more and Lowry a little less than he would have normally liked. Still, with everyone calling for his job after Game 1 he answered in a big way. Would have liked to see an actual play drawn up that didn’t result in a Lowry hail-mary to finish it off but hey, we’re splitting hairs here.