The Milwaukee Bucks have a well-documented history against the Toronto Raptors in recent memory, and this latest matchup certainly embodied it.
It was a thrilling game from start to finish, and no matter how sizeable a lead the Bucks built up, the Raptors kept chipping away. Milwaukee pulled away with a six-point scoring advantage in the fourth quarter, which propelled them to a 115-108 victory over Toronto.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo headlined the box score with a near triple-double, logging 24 points, 18 rebounds, and nine assists. Khris Middleton followed close behind, pouring in 24 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists himself.
It would be easy to discuss the fantastic performances these two put together, but there were many other headlines that played into this game.
With that being said, here are three takeaways from Milwaukee’s win over Toronto down in Tampa Bay.
Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaway No. 3 from victory over Toronto Raptors – Brook Lopez’s big night
Brook Lopez was putting up career-worst numbers in several categories throughout the first several games of this season. The big man struggled to find any rhythm offensively in the early going, and fans contemplated whether it was time to panic. However, after a brief cold stretch, he has started to get comfortable recently and showed it Wednesday night against the Toronto Raptors.
Lopez finished with his best performance of the year, scoring a season-best 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc. In addition to seven rebounds and one blocked shot he logged, Lopez was scoring the ball at will, showing that he can still be that formidable force with the ball in his hands.
Now including this game against the Raptors, Lopez has finished with double-digit points in five consecutive contests. Early concerns about his slow start offensively have quieted down, and the Bucks will need him to sustain this recent hot streak moving forward.
With the Bucks winning by a margin of just seven points against the Raptors and a pair of other starters struggling to score, they needed every bit of Lopez’s big night.
Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaway No. 2 from victory over Toronto Raptors – Backcourt impacts without scoring
While Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez all had big games offensively, it was a different story for the other two starters. Donte DiVincenzo and Jrue Holiday have been known to go cold periodically this season, and this game against the Raptors was certainly one of the more apparent performances.
DiVincenzo finished with just eight points in 26 minutes, shooting an abysmal 2-of-9 from the floor and 0-of-5 from 3-point territory. Aside from an authoritative slam over Toronto’s Yuta Watanabe early in the fourth quarter, it was another rough night for DiVincenzo on the offensive end.
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However, much like when he does when he struggles to put that ball in the basket, the guard looked to make an impact elsewhere on the floor. Donte grabbed three rebounds, three assists, and two steals while bringing that relentless energy defensively as compensation for his shooting woes.
It was more of the same for his running mate in Holiday, who also had himself a cold night shooting. He finished with just seven points in the game, shooting 3-of-14 from the floor and 0-of-8 from behind the arc. It was just his second game of the season, finishing short of double-digit points, and it comes after a recent five-game hot streak.
That is not to discredit Holiday entirely, however, as he did make a clutch shot at the basket to give the Bucks a 111-105 lead with just over 40 seconds left. It was another welcoming showing of what the veteran can do for this team down the stretch in tight ballgames, and it was certainly welcoming. Still, it was certainly an off night shooting the ball, but Holiday made sure to make his presence felt elsewhere.
Scoring aside, Holiday finished with seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals, just one turnover, and was a team-high +16 on the night. Jrue has previously shown the impact he can have when he is not scoring, and Wednesday night was a perfect example.
Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaway No. 1 from victory over Toronto Raptors – Bucks survive a 3-point onslaught
The Bucks and their subpar 3-point defense is a story as old as time, and it is not a coincidence that teams tend to get hot when shooting behind the arc when they play Milwaukee. That made this upcoming contest against the Raptors worrisome, as they were heaving the second-most triples per game heading into this matchup.
Unsurprisingly, the Raptors were unconscious from behind the arc by hitting 22-of-55 from the perimeter as a team. Norman Powell and Kyle Lowry, two players with an unfortunate history of torching the Bucks, shouldered half of the workload by themselves as they combined to sink combined 11 triples in the game. Typically, an opponent hitting 22 shots from long distance against the Bucks results in a defeat without question.
However, they were obviously able to pull this one out, and a significant reason for that was their own ability to knock down 3-pointers, hitting 16-of-44. Khris Middleton was fantastic from downtown, going 5-for-8 on the night. Meanwhile, Bryn Forbes and D.J. Augustin stepped up off the bench with a combined six triples of their own, which proved crucial in Milwaukee’s slim seven-point win.
Despite giving up 22 3-pointers to the Toronto Raptors, this was a good win for Milwaukee to improve to 11-6 on the season. With the Boston Celtics losing on Wednesday, the Bucks now slide up to the second seed in the Eastern Conference standings, currently sitting just one game back of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Bucks will continue their trip down South by taking on the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night at the Smoothie King Center.