Milwaukee vs. Toronto: Bucks’ Winning Streak Snapped in TOR

The Milwaukee Bucks saw their winning streak snap after falling on the road in Toronto against the Raptors, 93-97.

What We Learned

The Milwaukee Bucks shot just 37.6% from the floor but continued to manufacture ways to claw their way back into the game and keep it within single digits.

Jrue Holiday helped keep them in it with hot shooting, scoring 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting. This was no easy 26 points either, as the majority of his makes came with a defender draped all over him. It was fun to watch Holiday navigate the midrange and somehow get a high-arching jumper to fall. Without his efforts, this game would have been over fast.

Three Observations

There was A LOT of Sandro Mamukelashvili in this one. With Giannis Antetokounmpo out, the Bucks had no other big to turn to and Mamu ended up playing 23 minutes out of nowhere. He had his fair share of highs and lows, making 4-of-8 shots for eight points while also grabbing 10 boards. He was active on the boards on both ends of the floor and 6 of his 10 rebounds were offensive. He had two strong finishes around the rim late in the fourth quarter as Milwaukee cut the deficit to two points. For someone who rarely plays and got thrown into the fire immediately, I would say the outcome was quite acceptable from the rookie!

Fred VanVleet TORCHED Milwaukee. Well, it’s groundhog day again. Has he ever had a bad game against them? Did he have another kid before the game? Anyways, whenever he touched the ball I got flashbacks to the 2019 postseason where he was a machine. He was no different last night, scoring 29 points while making five three-pointers. He put the Bucks away late by making some tough jumpers and even converted a left-handed circus shot that could not have been defended any better. He was able to nullify whatever Milwaukee did offensively...he just had an answer for everything. It should ALWAYS be expected that FVV has a great game against MKE. It’s the law.

I would have liked to see Khris Middleton get more touches earlier. Sure, he did end up with 20 shot attempts, but he was seldom heard from for long stretches of the game. However, he turned it up in the final period by hitting multiple threes and tough baseline turnarounds. He finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, and two assists while playing 35 minutes. The drop in assists is no surprise as they were without Giannis, though. The Raptors played tough, chaotic defense all night and made Middleton earn all of his buckets. In his case tonight, great offense overcomes great defense.

Bonus Bits

• Bobby Portis finished with a double-double (15/11) but made just 3-of-11 field goals. He got himself to the line 10 times due to a fairly enormous usage offensively...maybe a bit too much at times!
• Grayson Allen added 10 points and one would think that he would have had a more prominent role offensively sans GA. Just didn’t happen tonight.
• Jordan Nwora didn’t do anything in four minutes. Actually, he did! He managed to completely BUTCHER a fast break attempt late in the third quarter that would’ve kept momentum on Milwaukee’s side. His regression as of late is concerning.
• 28 minutes of George Hill was a lot as he was consistently getting scored on by FVV.
• Rodney Hood got a lot of PT in the first quarter but did not capitalize on the opportunity (zero points, minus-8).