National Post (National Edition)
Raptors handled Bucks, but can they do it again?
Anunoby back, but team may lose Lowry
Nick Nurse finally got his lockdown defender back, allowing the coach to finally get to the desired starting lineup. It resulted in a much-needed win against the Bucks in Milwaukee.
Now can the Toronto Raptors replicate that against the same team? That's the charge in this unique NBA season where in-season series to save on travel have become the norm.
The task becomes tougher if the Raptors have to play without Kyle Lowry, who is listed as questionable for Thursday's game.
With the return of OG Anunoby on Tuesday, and the small starting five, it set the tone Nurse would like to see on a consistent basis.
First, Anunoby. Playing a team such as the Bucks, who boast two elite offensive scorers in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, Anunoby solves a lot of problems.
The Raptors don't have to pick between focusing their defensive attention on just one player because their best defender, Anunoby, is equally capable of making life miserable for either one.
On Tuesday night the game plan was to make everything tough on Middleton and take him out of the game as much as possible and live with whatever Antetokounmpo could manage.
Nurse admitted postgame the Bucks got a little more offence from their three-point game — Pat
Connaughton in particular — but limiting, and almost eliminating, Middleton altogether from the scoresheet was the goal.
Nurse called it a team effort and seemed reluctant to praise one of his defenders over another, but Anunoby stood out.
Middleton was held to just 11 points in 38 minutes on 4-of-8 shooting. He also didn't have an assist and turned it over five times.
That is the second lowest point total in a game this season for Middleton. The Miami Heat held him to eight but in that game, he contributed nine assists making Tuesday his least effective start of the year.
THAT SMALL LINEUP
Tough to argue with the results. The Raptors won the game and won the battle of the boards out-rebounding Milwaukee 44-41.
Prior to the game Nurse
pounced on a question about his starting unit setting the tone suggesting that hasn't been happening enough and the bench unit too often has been following that lead.
Well, there was no question the starting five this time set a positive tone and the bench, while initially overshadowed by Connaughton, ramped up their game and fell in line with what the starters had started.
I asked Fred VanVleet if that starting five, without a true centre in the mix, was sustainable and his answer seemed pretty definitive in terms of the plans going forward.
“It better be,” VanVleet said. “We don't have a choice at this point. We are past theories and hypotheticals; you know what I'm saying. It was a good start tonight and it worked. When you win, everything you did worked and when you lose it didn't. The bad part is we have to beat this team again in 48 hours so we have our work cut out for us.”
Anunoby said the small starting lineup doesn't change too much for him but it does put a priority on boxing out to give the Raptors a chance at the rebound.
“Just knowing I have to be aggressive,” he said of how it affects him in particular. “Boxing out, trying to get boards. I know we can all get the rebound and push it, so it just helps us play faster.”
ABOUT THOSE BUCKS
Having lost four in a row, the Bucks are taking it on the chin these days on social media with calls for a change behind the bench or even at centre where Brook Lopez seems to be getting a lot of the backlash.
What the fan base doesn't seem to understand, though, is that the Bucks are in the midst of a defensive change of identity that, if successful, is going to help them significantly come playoff time.
Until just recently, Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer had been a coach who preferred to limit switching on defence as opponents would hunt down the desired matchup they wanted and once achieved would go to work on that advantage. Recently, though, the Bucks have been following the trend set by teams like the Raptors who switch matchups mid possession to get back to a more desired defending position.