Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways in 131-127 loss to Toronto Raptors

The Thon song

The biggest and most welcoming surprise of the night, Thon Maker provided the jolt the Bucks were looking for at the beginning of last night’s game in his homecoming to the Great White North.

Upon entering the game at the 4:51 mark of the first quarter, Maker made his presence known by promptly draining a corner three on his first offensive possession. It turns out he was only getting started as he drained another trey, and slammed home a vicious alley-oop over 2016 draft class alum Jakob Poeltl before the end of the quarter.

Maker was able to carry over that spark into the second period by swatting away an ambitious lay up attempt from Fred Van Vleet and baiting a foul on Poeltl to earn a rare trip to the free throw line for three shots (which he knocked down all of them) just 30 seconds later.

Unfortunately, Maker couldn’t keep up his pace from the first half as we went into the second half, though he did chip in one more corner three and make an additional pair of free throw attempts near the start of the fourth quarter.

In total, the second-year Maker scored 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field (3-of-4 from deep), grabbed four rebounds, recorded an assist, steal, and block each and was a +6 in just over 18 minutes of play.

At this point, it’s too early to determine whether this performance could act as the turning point for what has been a very inconsistent sophomore season so far for Maker, but at the very least, it could be the confidence boost the 20-year-old could be looking for in order to break the erratic pattern.

Next: Win In 6 Podcast #172: The Milwaukee Bucks’ unsung heroes

The Bucks will next take on one of their central division rivals, the Indiana Pacers, on Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.