The losses continue to pile up for the Milwaukee Bucks after falling to the Toronto Raptors 110-96 Thursday night at Fiserv Forum.
As they continue to be without Jrue Holiday, who remains in the league’s health and safety protocols, the Bucks have subsequently wilted and lost all balance they had prior to this five-game losing streak. The Raptors continued to take advantage of that again Thursday night in a matchup they thoroughly dominated.
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The Bucks tried to give it a go over the second half and conjure up a comeback that never cut into the Raptors’ double-digit lead, which they comfortably secured for the majority of the night.
So without further ado, let’s dive into what stood out from the Bucks’ second straight defeat to the Toronto Raptors.
Takeaway no. 3 from loss to Toronto Raptors — Thanasis Antetokounmpo tries to light a spark for Milwaukee Bucks
With the Bucks lacking on energy and sleepwalking through such a shock to the system, Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer turned to Thanasis Antetokounmpo to infuse some kind of boost.
While the elder Antetokounmpo had played a grand total of five minutes and 54 seconds over the last two weeks, this ‘break glass in case of emergency’ scenario opened the door for Thanasis to see the floor. In over seven-and-a-half minutes of action, Thanasis finished with five points on 2-of-6 shooting, three boards and was a +6 in his short spurt.
The whirling dervish that he is on both ends of the floor, Antetokounmpo tried to light a fire under his squad by putting down easy dunks when set up at the dunker spot and taking on great defensive challenges. It certainly wasn’t pretty at times, especially when Thanasis missed some bunnies at the rim, but the overall tone Thanasis brought to the floor led to some of the Bucks’ most inspired moments on the night.
Whether it was spur of the moment type thing or not, Thanasis isn’t short on energy, even as his overall game isn’t as well-rounded as his spirit. Nevertheless, his usage would have been reflected better had things not been as big of a mess for the Bucks to begin with.
Takeaway no. 2 from loss to Toronto Raptors — Khris Middleton’s poor performance
Another night, another extended sight of seeing Khris Middleton shrink under literal pressure from the Raptors’ terrorizing defense.
Much like his outing in the Bucks’ loss to the Raptors Tuesday night, Middleton had no recourse yet again when faced up against the swarming Raptors defenders that came his way whenever he touched the ball on any side of the floor. And with his handle clearly loose, the two-time All-Star matched his season-high of six turnovers as he struggled to initiate the Bucks’ offense.
That high-level amount of defensive pressure affected his scoring, his comfort shooting the ball and playmaking, which led to one of Middleton’s worst performances on the year. And looking overtasked on the defensive end in part due to Holiday’s absence, Middleton has increasingly followed the way of the Bucks’ play over this losing streak.
All in all, Middleton finished with 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting (0-for-3 from downtown, 3-for-3 from the foul line), eight rebounds, five assists, a steal and was a -16 in just over 37 minutes of run.
Takeaway no. 1 from loss to Toronto Raptors — Bucks’ offense runs dry
Even as the Bucks have racked up losses in quick succession, they’ve been able to rely on their offense to at least keep them within distance of potentially snatching a victory to break this drought.
Needless to say that wasn’t the case in their final matchup against Toronto as their offense easily looked the worst it has all season long. To that point, the Bucks’ 101.1 offensive rating last night was the worst mark they’ve posted in a single game this season, per NBA.com/stats.
Admittedly, that may be a higher mark tan some Bucks fans anticipated as their offensive execution was doomed by their self-inflicted turnovers and general ineffectiveness shooting the ball as they went 10-for-34 from deep (29.4 percent). It should come as no surprise that the Bucks posted their lowest effective field goal percentage for a game this year as well.
The constant pressure that the Raptors brought at every turn and every double team that affected the decision making of all Bucks players obviously played a huge part in dragging the Bucks’ offense into the mud. And without their connective tissue and most composed ball handler in Holiday still sidelined, the Bucks regularly looked like they were going down a creek without a paddle for much of the night.
The Bucks will look to break their growing losing streak Friday night when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 7 p.m. CST tip-off at Fiserv Forum.