Game of the season
After a strong preseason, the Bucks got off to a roaring start to the regular season. With six wins in a row under their belts, Milwaukee’s seventh game of the season saw them come up against a fellow undefeated team in the form of the Toronto Raptors.
The excitement that surrounded the matchup died off a little when Kawhi Leonard was listed as out, and a spell in concussion protocol kept Giannis Antetokounmpo from suiting up too, but there was still a game to be played.
For most, the question became which secondary player would step up to carry their team to victory. Would the Bucks win thanks to Khris Middleton or Eric Bledsoe, or would Kyle Lowry or Pascal Siakam help the Raptors to prevail.
Of course, the answer was that an Ersan Ilyasova game was incoming.
Starting in place of Antetokounmpo, Ersan logged 23 minutes of action, and avoided the prospect of additional minutes by ensuring his team was already cruising to victory.
Ilyasova scored 19 points on 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-6 from deep, in spite of failing to make a single trip to the free throw line. As if that scoring outburst wasn’t enough, Ilyasova also dominated the boards by corralling in 10 rebounds.
With such an impressive effort from Ilyasova in place, the Bucks cruised to an impressive 15-point victory and a 7-0 start on the season.
Of course, the Bucks and Raptors’ history extended far beyond that over the rest of the season, and Ilyasova continued to thrive. As much as I went for the performance where he was forced into starting, there’s certainly a case for Ersan’s 17-point showing in Game 2 against the Raptors being his best game of the season too.