Raptors lose to Bucks at home
Toronto drops its second straight despite limiting Bucks superstar Antetokounmpo
It’s not a major revelation, but the Milwaukee Bucks are going to be a concern for the Toronto Raptors for the next five months.
The Bucks, who won the first matchup between these teams a month and a half ago, made it 2-0 in the season series with a tooth-and-nail 104-99 win, this time with both Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo in uniform. And this time on Toronto’s home court.
But it was neither of the NBA royal family members who made the biggest difference in this one.
It was more of a collective effort by both teams.
The biggest shots of the night belonged to the Bucks’ Malcolm Brogdon, the 2017 rookie of the year now in his third NBA season.
Brogdon erased a three-point Toronto lead with a minute and change remaining that Leonard established with his only threepoint make of the night.
But Brogdon wasn’t done. After a Kyle Lowry miss at the other end, one of five on the night for the struggling point guard who did not register a single point in the game, Brogdon calmly set his feet and drilled another to put the Bucks up three.
Fred VanVleet got two of those back on a drive, but the Bucks extended that one-point lead to three when Pascal Siakam lost Antetokounmpo on an inbounds play allowing the Greek Freak an uncontested dunk at the other end.
Toronto had a dozen seconds left to force this one into overtime, but a somewhat panicked three from well behind the top of the arc from Leonard hit the front of the rim and was rebounded by the Bucks to put the game away.
Toronto is now 21-7 and have now lost two in a row for just the second time this season, having dropped one in Brooklyn on Friday.
The road only gets tougher for the Raptors, who head out on a four-game trip that starts with the Clippers and includes stops in Golden State, Portland and Denver.
Serge Ibaka led all scorers with 22, while Leonard had 20 and VanVleet added 19.
The Bucks spread things around as Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez led with 19, while the hero Brogdon finished with 18.
FINDING THAT THREE
The three ball has been a bit of a mystery for the Raptors of late. Lowry’s shot has all but disappeared. CJ Miles has had a running battle finding his own all season with any consistency. Even steady VanVleet has been having issues of late getting it to drop.
So it was a welcome relief Sunday to see someone other than Leonard find the bottom of the well for a change. Head coach Nick Nurse actually predicted it was going to happen.
“We’re gonna start making them tonight,” Nurse said pregame when the subject of all the recent troubles from that range were brought up.
By halftime, the Raptors had already hit six. By the end of three quarters, that number was up to 10 led by a 3-for-4 performance from distance from VanVleet. Ibaka also had three, but he had taken nine attempts, so not quite as efficient as VanVleet.
POWELL STILL IN LIMBO
Norm Powell has missed 16 games with a subluxation of his left shoulder and it appears it’s going to be at least four more before he’s back. Powell appeared to be on the brink of a return based on his pre-game workouts and even a mini four-on-four game following practice Saturday. But asked if Powell would be making his return on the upcoming four-game West Coast road trip, Nurse said that it was unlikely.
“I think we were at a point where we thought he was getting closer, but they (medical staff ) don’t think he’s quite ready,” Nurse said. “The shoulder thing ’s tricky. You gotta watch ’em and I don’t think he’s made as much progress here recently as we’d hoped. I hope I’m wrong.”
Quick hits: Miles drew a charge on Antetokounmpo in the second quarter. It was the second charge he has drawn this season and that puts him third on the team behind Danny Green with three and Lowry with 12 ... The Raps’ bench was shut out in the first three minutes of the second quarter and did not score until Jonas Valanciunas got to the free-throw line at the nine-minute mark ... When Lopez went to the bench, the Raptors responded with their smallest of smallball lineups with Siakam playing centre. Defensively that unit held its own, but did not produce offensively ... It was a weird second quarter in which Leonard was held pointless, while Antetokounmpo had all of two points. Leonard played more than nine minutes, while Antetokounmpo was out there for almost nine ... Nurse was not ready to reveal the plans for Leonard when the Raptors head out west and open the trip with a back-to-back in Los Angeles and Oakland. “I do not know,” Nurse said. “I know I’m going to L.A. (Monday), I’ll start thinking about that after Sunday’s game.”
The shoulder thing’s tricky. You gotta watch ’em and I don’t think he’s (Norm Powell) made as much progress here recently as we’d hoped.