Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways in 129-110 loss to Toronto Raptors

Giannis Antetokounmpo #NBAVote

Before last night’s loss got out of hand, the Bucks were fueled by what was a commanding performance from Giannis Antetokounmpo, at least in the first half.

Antetokounmpo looked up to the challenge of trying to topple a Raptors team that had gotten the better of his team over their last four meetings as he helped jumpstart the Bucks’ performance in the game’s opening few minutes.

While the Greek eventually went quiet by the end of the first quarter, in part due to taking an early seat as part of head coach Jason Kidd’s staggering substitution pattern, Antetokounmpo came alive again in the second and delivered some mighty finishes around the rim, including this doozy of an outlet catch and ensuing reverse layup.

Unfortunately, any contributions Giannis made over the second half were dwarfed by the fact that the Raptors had grabbed complete control of the game. Just for good measure, Antetokounmpo got a little more burn than he arguably should have during the fourth quarter when the result had been all but finished, especially with the second end of a back-to-back on the road looming.

All in all, Antetokounmpo finished with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field (6-of-9 from the free throw line), five rebounds, five assists, two steals as well as two turnovers and was a -16 for the game.

For as disappointing as it is that some of Giannis’ feats got lost in the shuffle with the defeat on Friday night, he’ll undoubtedly look to try to get the Raptors when they meet again in late February.