National Post (National Edition)
Raptors in search of offensive mojo
Bucks’ ability to stop top guns proves key
IT’S GOING TO BE A DIFFERENT TEAM TOMORROW.
Two stinkers out of three does not inspire confidence. And Game 4s aren’t exactly the Raptors strong suit having lost six of the last 10 Game 4s in their playoff history. This group over the past four years is 2-3 in Game 4s.
But this year is this year and the past really isn’t an indicator of what is to come.
The fear is that the overwhelming dominance of the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 3 just might be.
It’s on the Raptors to figure out a way to score against this defence that has shut them down in two of the first three games.
The Raptors’ big two of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry are a combined 13for-50 for a total of 52 points in the two losses with 24 of those points coming from the free-throw line. Give the Bucks credit. They have found a way, just as Washington found a way two years ago to minimize the two most important Raptors from an offensive perspective.
All series, the focus has been on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s stirring offence and to a lesser degree on the offensive contributions of Khris Middleton and Greg Monroe. What probably hasn’t been talked about enough is the Bucks defence.
Antetokounmpo said as much in his post-game news conference after Game 3 by crediting teammate Tony Snell for the defensive job he has done on DeRozan in particular.
Snell, Malcolm Brogdon, Thon Maker, and yes, even Matthew Dellavedova coming off the bench, have been doing the bulk of the hard work on defence making things tough on Lowry and DeRozan before they can get to the rim.
When one does happen to spring free, waiting deep in the paint is the duo of Antetokounmpo and Middleton playing the football version of safety. If Antetokounmpo isn’t swatting away scoring attempts, Middleton is swiping at the ball and getting turnovers as well as altering shots enough that they aren’t successful.
If the Raptors coaching staff didn’t burn the midnight oil devising ways to get Lowry and DeRozan some better looks, then something is definitely amiss.
The good news is this is not the first time the Raptors have been down this dark hole.
And the confidence, that could have been shaken given how easily the Raps were handled in Game 3, remains strong. That includes DeRozan after being held without a single field goal for the first time in his playoff career.
“There’s a first for everything,” DeRozan said. “I guarantee you it won’t be like that tomorrow,” he said in reference to Saturday’s Game 4 in Milwaukee.
Normally that kind of potential bulletin board material is frowned upon. In the circumstances the Raptors find themselves in, it was actually probably a necessity that someone spoke up and refused to let Game 3 make them even more of a victim.
“(I take this) tremendously personally,” he said of the Game 3 no-show by the Raps. “Like I said, it won’t be the outcome tomorrow. Things happen, there’s a side of me that’s gonna come out after I feel like I let my team down and every individual out there feels the same way. It’s going to be a different team tomorrow.”
Step one, assuming the Raptors’ defence led by Serge Ibaka can keep Antetokounmpo under some type of control, is getting DeRozan and Lowry back on the beam offensively.
History has shown this could go either way.
They never did figure it out against the Washington Wizards in that four-game sweep two years ago which has to be somewhat concerning given that Jason Kidd’s assistant, Eric Hughes, was a member of Raptors’ coach Dwane Casey’s coaching staff and no doubt has a blue print for neutralizing the Raptors’ top two scorers.
Of course, that was two years ago. Since then, the Raptors have seen their two biggest scorers struggle in one game only to rebound the next. It happened in Indiana. It happened again in Miami last year.
The question is can they do it this time? It’s anyone’s guess.
What we know is the Bucks have their full attention. What worked in Game 2 is no longer working and the game of adjustments has now put the pressure squarely on the Raptors to find something else.
The Raptors talked a good game on Friday in advance of Saturday’s 3 p.m. start.
But as Casey correctly summed up the situation: “We can’t talk about it, we can’t make excuses about it. That’s not the answer. (Saturday), for 48 minutes, is the answer.”