Milwaukee Bucks: Analyzing Tony Snell/DeMar DeRozan Matchup

Head to Head

In four meetings this season, the undeniable winner of this matchup has been the Toronto Raptors. Milwaukee was able to steal the Mar. 4 battle to avoid the season sweep, as Toronto won the first three games convincingly.

It’s difficult to compare all of the games evenly, due to injuries and Toronto’s trade deadline pickups. DeRozan appeared in three of the four meetings, while Snell was in all four.

In their first two meetings of the season – Nov. 25 and Dec. 12 – DeRozan came as advertised, scoring 26 and 20 points respectively. What jumps out the most in these two games, besides DeRozan scoring 56 points in two game on only one made three-point attempt, is DeRozan’s ability to get to the line. In these first two meetings, he was 23 of 25 from the free-throw line.

Compare those numbers to DeRozan’s final game against Milwaukee (DeRozan missed the Jan. 27 matchup). DeRozan was shut down by the Bucks on Mar. 4. According to DeRozan in a quote to The Athletic, the frantic trap-loving defense of the Bucks got to him.

"“I played seven games against [Jason Kidd] in Brooklyn (in 2013-14) — them just understanding how to take me out. It sat in the back of my head. I don’t want other teams to see that and use that as a blueprint.”"

After rewatching the Mar. 4 meeting, a lot of the defense that slowed down DeRozan was that of Tony Snell. I wish it were as easy as just saying “let’s keep trapping DeMar” and they could just take him out of the game, but three-time All-Stars who average almost 30 points per contest are great because they can make adjustments.

I’m still terrified of DeMar DeRozan and you should be, too.

As for Tony Snell, he’s sure been Tony Snell out there. To be fair, he scored 16 points on 6-12 shooting (4-10 on three-pointers) in their Nov. 25 loss while sporting a team-low -7 +/- score.

That said, the Bucks aren’t looking to re-sign Tony Snell because he stuffs the box score on the offensive end. It’s because of the frustratingly-high energy defense he played on DeMar DeRozan, effectively shutting him down on Mar. 4, allowing the Bucks to grab the W.

If this series comes down to the clutch, there are two guys who will touch the ball: Lowry and DeRozan, and there’s a very good chance Tony Snell will be guarding one of them.