Safe and sound
Throughout their two games in Toronto, the Bucks’ offense was far from pretty.
That really has been the case for the majority of the series, but it sunk to new levels in Game 3 and save for Khris Middleton putting in one of his more effortless scoring performances of arguably his seven-year career in Game 4, it’s been tough sledding for the Bucks to manufacture quality looks against the Raptors’ tenacious defense.
Of course, that’s been when the Bucks have had the ball in their hands as the Raptors’ ramp up the on-ball pressure over the last two contests has yielded great rewards for them. The Bucks committed 20 turnovers in their double overtime loss for Game 3 and 13 miscues last time out and the Raptors combined to score 38 points off of the Bucks’ 33 turnovers over that span.
The biggest culprit behind the Bucks’ sloppy handling of the ball has been their superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has collected just over a third of the team’s total mistakes and he’s certainly been a prime focal point for the double teams and team defending strategies to make his life miserable as the series switched over to the Great White North.
With the Raptors having won the margins in other areas of the game as well during the last two tilts, the Bucks will have to simply withstand the increased defensive pressure they’ve seen from Toronto as well as hold their composure better than they did in Game 4. And that is directly tied to their initiating of the team’s offense and hitting that sweet spot of finding timely passing windows to teammates.
Game 5 between the Bucks and the Raptors is slated to tip off at 7.30 p.m. central time Thursday night at Fiserv Forum. For those not in attendance, you can catch the game on TNT.