In their first meeting since their first round playoff series last season, the Milwaukee Bucks fell to the Toronto Raptors in overtime, thanks in large part to a franchise night by DeMar DeRozan.
Facing off against each other for the first time since their playoff series last year, the Milwaukee Bucks couldn’t exact their revenge on the Toronto Raptors on Monday night as they fell to the second seed in the East in overtime, losing 131-127.
The Bucks did not get off to a rousing start by any means as they were held scoreless for nearly the game’s first three minutes as Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan quickly got to work for what ended up being a historic performance for the three-time All-Star. But once the Bucks got on the board, they gradually caught up to the Raptors by the end of the first quarter, trailing 35-30.
That continued into the first few minutes of the second quarter until the Bucks eventually broke through and grabbed a hold of the lead for a brief stretch midway through the period.
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Down by four coming out of halftime, the Bucks were slow to find their rhythm out of the break, which only led to the Raptors finding theirs and boosting their lead up to 11 at one point, their biggest lead of the game.
However, thanks to their three best players in Giannis Antetokounmpo, Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton staging a big run on their own for major minutes in the third, the Bucks were able to close the gap and make it a two possession game entering the fourth.
Trading baskets for a good chunk of the final period in regulation, the Bucks were able to regain the lead at the 3:23 mark of the quarter, thanks to a big three-pointer from Matthew Dellavedova. But the Raptors weren’t fazed as they hit big shots from deep and made their way to the charity stripe, which led to all of us having five minutes of free basketball.
While the Bucks started off on the right foot in the overtime period with Bledsoe hitting a three-pointer on the quarter’s opening play, the Raptors planted their foot down on their proverbial gas pedal and the Bucks couldn’t answer back before it was too late and all out of reach, ultimately sealing their fate and the game as a whole.
So without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at what and who stood out in the Bucks’ loss to the Toronto Raptors.