The Raptors may not have had to to deal with Giannis, with Dame gave them more than they could handle tonight.
The Toronto Raptors played at home tonight, welcoming the Milwaukee Bucks. While Giannis was ruled out due to calf soreness, Damian Lillard made sure to make up for the loss of Giannis. Dame finished with 37/14/4 — a key part in the Bucks sealing the deal on their seventh win of their season. The Raptors on the other hand fall to 6-5.
With Anunoby and Trent Jr. both out, The Raptors started Scottie Barnes, Gradey Dick, Jakob Poeltl, Pascal Siakam, and Dennis Schroder.
Overall, it wasn’t too pretty. The Toronto Raptors trailed by as much as 33 points throughout the game, and only shot 25.9% from three point range.
The Raptors went out on a quick 8-2 run to start the game before Adrian Griffin had to take a timeout. That’s where it went downhill for Toronto.
The Bucks were able to get back quickly thanks to the efforts of Dame Lillard. The Bucks then answered with a 17-0 run to get ahead by over ten points. The Bucks shot 60% from the field and 55.6% from three in the first quarter as opposed to the Raptors 34.6% and 22.2% respectively.
The Bucks ended the first quarter on top, 36-20.
The second quarter was more of the same with the Bucks maintaining a 10-15 point lead throughout, but getting up to a 20 point lead by the end of the half. It felt like deja vu to Monday’s game already.
Damian Lillard was having a game himself and was already at 30+ by the third quarter.
Damian Lillard has 32 points on 12 shots with 8:54 left in the 3rd quarter.
32 points. 12 shots.
— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) November 16, 2023
The Bucks then proceeded to make it a 30-point game, essentially canning the hopes of another herculean-effort comeback form the Raptors. Toronto was shooting terribly but also just not defending very well at all (see: missing O.G. Anunoby).
With 4:33 left in the 3rd quarter, Pascal Siakam & Scottie Barnes have made 3 of the Raptors’ 5 makes in the quarter.
They’ve taken 5 of the Raptors’ 17 attempts.
— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) November 16, 2023
The Bucks hit 100 by the end of the third over Toronto’s 79. Damian Lillard was up to 37 points, 12 assists, four rebounds by the end of three quarters.
A high point? Scottie Barnes was the only player with more than 20 points going into the fourth quarter with 21. He finished with 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. The next highest scorer was Jakob Poeltl with 13 points.
Scottie Barnes tonight:
29 PTS, 9 REB, 7 AST, 11-for-19 FG, 3-for-3 from three.It’s his 6th 20/5/5 game of the season, tied for 3rd most by any player this season. pic.twitter.com/BPFDVBLwXX
— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) November 16, 2023
The Raptors started to build (what’s becoming) a signature comeback, bringing the game within 14 points in the fourth quarter. Yet, it was not enough, and the Raptors started to accept this was a loss. The bench came out, including the NBA debut of Markquis Nowell.
The Raptors lost 128-112.
Darko noted postgame that there was no defence played off the jump, possibly due to poor communication and the Bucks picking them apart. There was no energy or force to carry them through from the start. He also mentioned the lack of ball movement.
Coach also mentioned the emphasis on correcting those first half swings. He said that there was special emphasis on getting Scottie more pick and roll action.
Another big loss is missing Anunoby from the lineup. Both times this season the Raptors have allowed two players on the opposing team to score 30+ points, he was out of the lineup.
Raptors allowed two players to score 30+ points for the 2nd time this season.
The first time? Maxey & Embiid on Oct 28th.
OG Anunoby was out for both games.
— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) November 16, 2023
The Raptors will now how have one day off before playing their first In-Season Tournament game on Friday against the Boston Celtics.