Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from 124-113 loss to Toronto Raptors

Second takeaway from loss to Toronto Raptors — Bench contributions continue making an impact for the Milwaukee Bucks

The importance of the MBucks’ bench has been stressed repeatedly this season, and this second unit showed why Tuesday night.

Despite the loss, Pat Connaughton put together one of his strongest outings yet in his three-year tenure with the Bucks. The guard scored a season-high 20 points, shooting 8-of-15 from the floor (4-of-10 from deep) while grabbing five rebounds and blocking five shots in 31 minutes of burn. It was certainly a lopsided effort for Connaughton, as he scored just two of his 20 points in the second half, but there was no denying that he had it going throughout the first half.

Another Buck that provided a solid contribution off the bench was big man Bobby Portis. Portis has been on a tear this entire year, and he put together another strong performance with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting (2-of-3 from downtown) while also grabbing six rebounds in his 23 minutes of action. Connaughton and Portis helped keep this game competitive with their production off the bench, but it certainly hurt that not a single other reserve scored in the game.

Backup point guard D.J. Augustin had another lackluster night shooting the ball and managed to log yet another scoreless outing on 0-of-2 shooting. He did make an impact elsewhere in his 15 minutes, however, as he logged six assists. Defensive ace Torrey Craig missed his only shot attempt in just eight minutes of action, once again finding his minutes inconsistent.