Milwaukee Bucks Game Preview: February 22 at Toronto Raptors

Major key for Milwaukee – Avoid the slow start

With the exception of Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks’ players have had a week off to rest, work on their games, or in most cases do both.

While the expectation may be for Milwaukee to come out looking fresh and energized on Friday night, in a league that’s played at such a frenetic pace, leaving players incredibly reliant on building up a rhythm, there’s also a really good chance that there could be signs of rust evident early in this game.

From the Bucks’ perspective, the challenge of beating a high-flying Raptors team on the road is great enough without adding any extra hurdles that need to be cleared. In other words, the Bucks need to be locked in and ready to play from the opening tip.

Milwaukee is generally a good first half team that has a knack of drifting off the pace as the game progresses, yet while their ranking as the NBA’s 10th best first half team in terms of net rating may be significant against most opponents, the Raptors are far superior as the NBA’s second best first half team.

Toronto has outscored opponents in the first half by 10.8 points per 100 possessions up until this point in the season, and what that in mind, a slow start from the Bucks could see this game over before it ever truly begins.