Yet another guard is out. Ochai Agabji will be absent against the Milwaukee Bucks due to a laceration on his right hand according to Blake Murphy of SportsNet.ca reports. He had re-opened an existing in the second quarter against the Boston Celtics. He attempted to catch a transition pass, lost balance, and steadied himself by putting his right hand on the ground, which is where the cut re-opened. There was bleeding, so he immediately returned to the locker room where he got three stitches.
At that point in the game, the 24-year-old had five points, four rebounds and an assist in 12 minutes. He’s having a very solid year and becoming a very valuable ‘3 and D’ player. The shooting guard is averaging 10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists while shooting 50.8 percent from the field and 40.3 percent from the three. Not to mention he’s only missed two games up until this point with 39 games played. Due to the injuries and lineup changes he’s gotten to start in 33 of them.
Without Agbaji, this likely means more minutes for hot hand Chris Boucher as well as Bruce Brown. Can’t forget the other sniper, Jamison Battle. He could potentially see minutes with Ochai out because of the lack of shooting they’ll have.
On the season Battle is averaging 5.8 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1 assist. The eye-opener is his efficiency. He’s shooting 46.4 percent from the field, 42.3 percent from three and 85.7 from the charity stripe along with a true shooting percentage of 63.6 percent.
Although the Bucks’ core is healthy the Raptors are going into this game with some momentum winning back-to-back matchups against the Celtics and Golden State Warriors. Its obvious this team has had ups and downs but there have been games where they surprise their opponent. Whether it’s a win or a close loss, the rest of the league knows not to underestimate a young and developing Raps squad.
The last matchup against the Bucks resulted in a 128 – 104 loss on Jan. 6. The one before that was Nov. 12 which was a 99 – 85 loss. Maybe third time is the charm.
The next time Agbaji will get a chance to suit up will be Tuesday Jan. 21 against the Orlando Magic.
