Raptors 87 – Bucks 76: backcourt, take a bow

The Raptors needed a win to push themselves back into a playoff series which looked lost after Game 3. They defended with determination and energy, got big games from their backcourt, and grabbed a road W.

Losing is bad, humiliation is much worse. The Toronto Raptors were roadkill to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, and another dreadful game would place their playoff hopes on life support. Instead, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan paced Toronto’s attack, and the defense kept Milwaukee’s young guns at bay. The result was a character-builder of a win, and a series tie of 2-2.

The Raptors juggled their starters, though not in the way I had hoped. DeMarre Carroll got the start but at power forward, as Norman Powell became the (very) small forward and Serge Ibaka jumped center. Powell made the team’s only 3-ball of the half, and acquitted himself well on D.

While the Bucks plan of forcing the Raptors to find secondary scoring or lose worked effectively, they couldn’t stop our primary basket-makers. DeRozan provided the only offense the Raptors could muster in the first half, scoring 21 of our team’s 41 points. His jumper was working, and he got to the free-throw line.

Carroll continued in his role of Lost Cause, and Jonas Valanciunas only entered the game when Greg Monroe popped off the bench for Milwaukee. Those two were destined to battle each other to an exhausting draw, although Monroe missed several bunnies which would have give him and his team an edge. JV didn’t miss all game, hitting 5 field goals and a pair of free throws.

Our guys were better in crunch time

The pace of this game favoured Toronto. Milwaukee was seldom able to exploit its youth and speed in the open floor, as the Raptors seemed determined to race back on D. The Raptors managed 11 steals, 5 of which were in the fourth quarter. They consistently snuffed out Bucks comeback attempts and never surrendered the precarious lead they built in Q3.

The Bucks managed a mere 35 points after intermission, which is almost as poor a half as the Raptors’ pitiful first in Game 3.

Keep their scorers off balance – you might win

Toronto defenders were particularly nasty to the Bucks’ Big Two of Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Neither of those worthies made a 3-ball (the only Buck who did was Tony Snell, who hit 5 – get on that guy!), and were a combined 10 of 32 mostly contested shots from the floor.

Norman drained 2 long balls in the second half, as did Lowry.

Ibaka had a dreadful shooting afternoon, but made himself prominent on D with 3 blocked shots and 6 boards. DeRozan gets to take the biggest bow, as he led his team with 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. That’s on top of his game-high 33 points.

I mentioned earlier about how the Bucks shut down the Raptors’ other scorers, and I suppose it’s my painful duty to tell you to what degree…(deep breath)…P.J. Tucker, Patrick Patterson, Delon Wright and Cory Joseph were pointless (in every sense) while Carroll had one basket. Let’s move on, shall we?

I much prefer to close by noting that Lowry scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half, which took pressure off Mr. Everything, DeMar.

The teams return to Toronto for Game 5 on Monday night.

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