DeRozan’s night off no issue for Raps
MILWAUKEE— Basically he went coastto-coast, a one-man break with one thing on his mind, and when Norm Powell unleashed a dunk, it was as if his true moment of arrival was upon the Toronto Raptors.
It was early in the third quarter — part of a run that allowed the Raptors to ultimately register a ridiculously easy 107-89 win over the Milwaukee Bucks — when Powell made the move he termed a “relief.”
“I was waiting for that one . . . I’m glad it ignited the team, we got on a run and I think that just helped me in the flow of the game,” Powell said. “That’s what I do, get out in transition, push the break, attack the basket and try to dunk the ball.”
The bucket, part of a 17-point night from the rookie swingman, more than validated coach Dwane Casey’s decision to give workhorse all-star DeMar DeRozan a night of rest. Coming off a game Monday and with back-to-backs coming Thursday in Indiana and Friday at home, Casey and took the long-term view to sit DeRozan, who had started the first 65 games of the season.
“We’re trying to win every game, we want to win every time we walk on the floor, but also too the health and the freshness of our guys is going to be important for us,” Casey said.
The Raptors barely skipped a beat without DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas, who sat thanks to a bruised left hand he picked up in Monday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls.
Powell was excellent, Bismack Biyombo added 12 points and 13 rebounds in place of Valanciunas and the Raptors put away the Bucks with a dominant second half.
“That’s what this league is all about, doing your job, and our guys were very professional tonight,” Casey said.
It was such a thorough and easy win Casey was able to give Kyle Lowry the entire fourth quarter off as Lowry played only 28 minutes.
It was exactly the opposite of what the Raptors usually do: They put a team away when the chance presented itself rather than allow an opponent to hang around and put undue pressure on them.
“Once we get a lead, we’ve struggled with that a little bit and tonight we didn’t, it was a good bounce back from (Monday) night’s debacle,” Casey said.
Lowry did finish with a team-best 25 points and 11 assists and dominated the first half but it had to feel good to sit and watch an entire fourth
“That’s very important to get those guys as much rest as possible, we haven’t had a chance to do that very much this year.” RAPTORS COACH DWANE CASEY
quarter.
“That’s very important to get those guys as much rest as possible, we haven’t had a chance to do that very much this year, to give he (Lowry) and DeMar and now JV rest like that,” Casey said.
“It was very important to do that, to get some minutes off his body and we’ll find some other times to rest them as much as possible.”
Valanciunas is on the trip that continues with a game Thursday in Indianapolis but is deemed day-to-day.
“It’s sore, the X-rays were negative, but this time of year it’s being more precautionary than anything else,” Casey said of Valanciunas.
“Jonas wasn’t part of the plan but it’s become part of the plan. Unfortunately, he got nicked a little bit and it’s a good time for him to get a little rest.”
Patrick Patterson chipped in 14 points for Toronto, while Jabari Parker had 18 and Giannis Antetokounmpo 16 for Milwaukee, which had won three in a row going into the game.