3 keys for Milwaukee Bucks in season series finale vs Toronto Raptors

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JANUARY 05 (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JANUARY 05 (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
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Milwaukee Bucks: Khris Middleton
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JANUARY 05: (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

After breaking out of their relative funk with a convincing win on Thursday, the Milwaukee Bucks will try to keep the good vibes going against the Toronto Raptors in their third and final meeting between the teams.

Toronto has gotten the better of Milwaukee in the first two games of the season series, although one big caveat is that Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t play in either contest. Well, that should change tonight as he isn’t listed on the Bucks’ injury report from last night. Although, as we’ve seen with the Bucks this season, their injury report can change right up until game time.

Regardless, this could be somewhat of a letdown game after a big win against the Golden State Warriors, but the Raptors have been one of the league’s best teams over the last month or so and, as the Bucks have seen, can’t be taken lightly.

The Milwaukee Bucks will need to avoid a letdown quarter against the Toronto Raptors

Things were going pretty well for the Bucks in the first half of their most recent game against the Raptors. They scored 77 points and were up nine against a team that had played the night before.

Then everything fell apart on offense and they scored 11 points on 3-of-22 shooting in the third. They didn’t even turn the ball over that much (five third quarter to the Raptors’ six), just flat out missed a ton of shots.

Part of that can be attributed to guys out of the rotation playing minutes due to the Bucks having a handful of rotation players out (Antetokounmpo, Grayson Allen, Donte DiVincenzo, Pat Connaughton, George Hill) and those fill-in guys going 0-of-8 in the third quarter.

Things will almost assuredly be better tonight with a more complete rotation (only Jrue Holiday is listed as out tonight) as well as, you know, having their two-time MVP back for this matchup.

Seems like a pretty solid proposition, right? They get their best player (and four other key rotation players) back and only need to score more than 11 points in a quarter.