Brogdon blazes in Bucks blast-off

AFTER playing a starring role down the stretch, Malcolm Brogdon called the Milwaukee Bucks’ 104-99 NBA victory at the Toronto Raptors their best performance of the season.

The shooting guard hit two three-pointers in the final 67 seconds, to tie and then take the lead, as the Bucks held on to beat the Raptors in an intense eastern conference showdown.

Brogdon scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 19 points and matched a season high with 19 rebounds, while centre Brook Lopez made five three-pointers in his 19 points as the Bucks became the first team to beat Toronto twice this season.

“In terms of having a full game, playing hard on both ends and executing at a high level on both ends, executing the game plan, and then finishing strong down the stretch, that is definitely the top game for us,” Brogdon said.

The Bucks (17-8) bounced back from Friday’s loss to Golden State and have yet to lose consecutive games this season.

“That’s how special this team is,” Antetokounmpo said.

Serge Ibaka led the Raptors’ scorers with 22 points while Kawhi Leonard had 20. Toronto have the best record in the NBA at 21-7, despite a second loss in a row.

Guard Kyle Lowry did not score a point for the Raptors for the first time since March 2013.

“Just couldn’t find the open ones tonight,” he said.

San Antonio Spurs held off a Utah Jazz challenge in the final quarter to record a 110-97 victory in their western conference match-up.

The win was the second straight for the Spurs and they improved to 13-14 on the season, the same mark as the beaten Jazz.

DeMar DeRozen scored 26 points and Rudy Gay added 23 points and matched his careerbest 15 rebounds. Reuters