It's a perfect start to the new NBA season for the Milwaukee Bucks, who secured a 122-116 win over the Toronto Raptors to start 2-0. The Bucks were in a tight battle, but Cole Anthony, who impressed, said this team can win ugly, something we haven't seen in recent years.
"It's a gritty win in a harsh environment, so good team dub! I do whatever the team needs." When asked about how he has settled in with the team, he said, "Two games, feels magnificent, I'm not going to lie to you."
Cole Anthony shows he can do it all in hard-fought win
Previous iterations of this Milwaukee team have been littered with experience and aging vets, but have struggled to keep up with younger, more athletic teams in scrappy games. Anthony and co. showed on Friday night in Toronto that this roster is very different.
The former Orlando Magic guard ended the night with an impressive line of 23 points, seven assists, four rebounds, and two steals, while shooting 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from the field, including 2-of-5 (40 percent) from 3-point range.
This new look Bucks roster now possesses the energy and hustle that previous teams were lacking. Defensively, they have looked solid, and that scrapiness against opposing teams has shone. We were told heading into the new season that the team would get more threes up, and they have done just that. In the first quarter, Anthony showed his court vision to fire the ball out to a wide-open AJ Green in the corner, who made 3-of-5 (60 percent) from deep.
One negative on the game was that the Bucks' injury bug had already started just two games into the season. Kevin Porter Jr. missed the Raptors game with an ankle sprain, so Ryan Rollins started at the one. Last night, they also lost wing Kyle Kuzma to an ankle sprain, forcing Doc Rivers to now tweak the rotation.
The depth of this roster was something Jon Horst and the front office addressed this offseason, with Anthony showing the quality the Bucks now have off the bench. Amir Coffey is likely to take a lot of Kuzma's minutes moving forward, and that is another player who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty.
During the offseason, Bobby Portis spoke about the roster having a lot of players who have been counted out and have something to prove. As a team, they finished the game with a 110.5 defensive rating. Gary Trent Jr. spent a lot of the night guarding the much bigger Brandon Ingram, and he finished with a 108.8 defensive rating.
Milwaukee will now face tougher tests, heading to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers and then hosting the New York Knicks, two teams they failed to beat last season. There are plenty of positives to take from the first two games, with the team's ability to scrap and wing ugly really standing out.