Milwaukee Bucks: 5 Keys To Beating The Toronto Raptors

Slow Toronto’s Ball Handlers

The Toronto Raptor’s don’t have the most diverse offensive scheme, but they do have a pretty effective one. According to stats.nba.com, their ball handlers use the pick-and-roll second most in the NBA, and also score at the second highest efficiency.

This isn’t an encouraging thing to see if you’re the Bucks. Greg Monroe, while improved this year, is still dreadful at getting back to cover after pick-and-rolls. After hedging hard against the ball handler, he struggles to get back, often leading to an easy two points for the opposing team.

Moose has been picked apart with really simple pick-and-rolls way too often. Some of that has to do with being asked to hedge the ball handler really hard, and then run back to recover. He’s just not fast enough or defensively aware enough to let this happen. The Bucks cant give up after a screen, and will have to limit Monroe’s minutes if it gets too bad.

It’s a losing battle that they’ll be fighting here, as Lowry and DeRozan are going to get theirs. But if the Bucks can limit the easy points they get, and make their lives difficult from outside, both of these players have turned in poor shooting performances in the playoffs before, and that could make enough of a difference.