Milwaukee Bucks Grades and Reactions From 107-89 Loss to the Toronto Raptors

Reactions: The Bad

• The Bucks had no answer for Kyle Lowry. When he wasn’t blowing past the Bucks front line defenders he was facilitating open three-point shots. When he wasn’t doing that he was getting to the free throw line. He shot 11-13 from the stripe and showed a level of dynamic guard play that the Bucks haven’t seen since Russell Westbrook and the Thunder came to town. Perhaps MCW could have limited Lowry’s production, but that’s a can of worms we’re going to leave for another day.

• Three-point shooting and three-point defense. The two biggest crutches holding the Bucks back from running with the NBA’s best. The Bucks shot just 2-13 from three while surrendering 14-29 (48.3%) to the Raptors. Sometimes it feels like superior teams toy with the Bucks early–trying to penetrate the lane, fast break, run pick and rolls, etc before realizing that they can consistently get good looks from three. That happened Tuesday night. The Raptors shot just 1-6 from downtown in the first quarter before going 13-23 the rest of the way.

• It’s hard to compete when the bench hemorrhages points the way they do. The bench combined for 22 points (less than one Kyle Lowry) and helped ignite a Toronto surge with their early second quarter play. We’ve seen flashes from Ennis. Plumlee is consistent. But Vaughn and JOB just don’t seem ready to compete with NBA talent. Jason Kidd plays a game of Russian roulette with a gun loaded with five bullets every time he goes to his bench.

Next: Milwaukee Bucks Grades: Starters