After a big win against the Celtics, the Raptors look to get just their second road win of the season.
This Toronto Raptors season has been somewhat of a roller coaster — albeit, at 10-31, it’s been a very low, acrophobia-friendly roller coaster, but still with its ups and downs.
They’ve gone through stretches of admirable, hard-fought losses against top teams. And at other times, they’ve looked positively gassed, putting together poor-effort double-digit losing streaks.
Currently, coming off wins against Golden State and Boston, the Raptors are in an upswing. Tonight in Milwaukee, they have the opportunity to nab their first three-game winning streak of the season. Here are the details for tonight’s game.
Where to Watch:
Sportsnet, 8 PM EST
Lineups:
Toronto: Davion Mitchell, Gradey Dick, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl
Milwaukee: Damian Lillard, Andre Jackson Jr., Taurean Prince, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez
Injuries:
Toronto: Immanuel Quickley — groin (OUT), Ochai Agbaji — hand (questionable)
Milwaukee: Andre Jackson Jr. — hip (questionable), Giannis Antetokounmpo — knee (probable), Khris Middleton — ankles (probable), Gary Trent Jr. — hip (probable)
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Revenge tour?
The Raptors’ worst loss of the season — and the most lopsided loss in franchise history — came in a 125-71 at the hands of the Boston Celtics on New Year’s Eve. On Wednesday, the Raptors got revenge, beating the Celtics 110-97 in what was probably the team’s best win of the season. Now they’ll try to do the same against the Bucks, who routed the Raptors 128-104 in a highly anticipated home game in which the entire starting lineup was finally healthy.
A turning point
That aforementioned Raptors-Bucks game left a sour taste in fan’s mouths. Then, their following game was a 14-point loss to the New York Knicks. But since that point, the Raptors have looked like a new team during a four-game stretch that’s included wins against Boston and Golden State, and a tight loss to the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers. RJ Barrett called last week’s ugly loss to Milwaukee a turning point for Toronto, according to TSN’s Josh Lewenberg. “That was our first time with everybody being together and to lose like that, I think that kinda woke everybody up a little bit,” Barrett said. “Since then, we’ve been playing hard and playing together.”
Road woe-rriors
A fun statistic this season is that the Raptors are actually a not-horrible 9-13 at home. Unfortunately, the flip side of this stat is their road record: With a 1-18 record outside of Scotiabank Arena, they have the worst away record in the entire league (yes, worse even than the Wizards’ 1-15 mark). That means they’ve won just one game in the United States since October. The team looks much better right now, but will that remain the case south of the border?