Milwaukee Bucks: Analyzing regular season series against Toronto Raptors
Raptors 123, Bucks 116 – Jan. 5, Fiserv Forum
At long last, the Raptors would finally the best the Bucks in their third duel with one another nearly a month after they had last met.
Even without their long-standing floor general in Kyle Lowry for the night, Toronto took an entertaining 123-116 victory that was backed by the 1-2 punch of Leonard (30 points on 16 shots, seven rebounds, six assists, five steals) and Most Improved Player candidate, Pascal Siakam (30 points on 15 shots).
In fact, Toronto’s starting five for the night combined to score 118 of their 123 points, and the Raptors collectively shot the lights out by hitting 51 percent of their 82 shots from the field and going 14-of-31 from three-point range (45.2 percent) for the night.
Milwaukee was led by their superstar in Antetokounmpo as he put in one of his best scoring performances of the season with 43 points on 16-of-25 shooting from the field (3-of-5 from three), along with 18 rebounds, six turnovers and four assists in over 39-and-a-half minutes.
However, the Bucks struggled to supply sufficient help around Antetokounmpo as all four other starters failed to shoot 50 percent or better on the night. What made matters worse was their uncharacteristic defensive performance, which resulted in them notching the fifth-worst defensive rating they had in a single game this season, per NBA.com/stats.
In many ways, it served as the ideal blueprint for the Raptors to dismantle the Bucks, something they’ll certainly hope to reconjure in the Conference Finals.