The Raptors first prolonged home stand of the season didn’t start off well, with a devastating loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. In games two and three, the Raptors impressed and played their first real stretch of good basketball, since the first three games of the season. Coming off a dominating win over the lowly Los Angeles Clippers, the Raptors continued to play solid basketball and outplayed the almost playoff bound Milwaukee Bucks, to a score of 115-106.
Give credit to the Bucks’ coaching staff led by Head Coach Scott Skiles who has this team battling to the bitter end. The Bucks have played some gritty basketball without two of their key components in Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut. Redd is gone for the season with ACL and MCL injuries, while Bogut still has a glimpse of hope he can get back into action. Right now, the Bucks are hanging on in the East, as they are three games back of the Chicago Bulls for the eighth seed.
Coming into tonight’s game, the Bucks had won two of three of games versus the Raptors, including a complete shutdown win over the home side the last time these Bucks were in town. As usual, Charlie Villanueva was a key contributor and always seems to rise up when facing the team that drafted him. On this night, Villanueva was an afterthought with a porous effort and didn’t make an impact at all. Charlie had just four points in the first half, and doubled up to finish with eight.
The bulk of the Milwaukee scoring came from Richard Jefferson with 22 points. Too bad the Bucks couldn’t play any defense in the first half, because this came most certainly would have had a different outcome.
Early in the game, Jose Calderon took over and abused Ramon Sessions off the bounce. When Calderon is running, shouting out plays and has that extra zip, the whole team benefits. The Raptors reeled off seven straight points, and the trouncing began.
Eight of the first thirteen Raptor points came in the paint, and the Raptors built up an excellent 15-12 lead. Calderon was the leading scorer with nine points, and almost gave the Raptors a scare when he jammed his fingers and went to the locker room. He returned, and led the Raptors to a 25-20 lead after twelve minutes.
The second quarter was probably the best of them all for the Raptors this season, as they were passing the ball at a high level, went inside and out and knocked down open jumpers. The Bucks did get shots off too, but they couldn’t contain the Raptors, and got burned. The Raptors opened up on a 10-5 run, and never looked back from there. As the quarter passed, the defensive stance got stronger.
In that second quarter the Raptors put up 40 points, and led 65-44 at the half. In three games versus the Bucks, the Raptors were only able to average 91 points a game. Calderon had the hot hand for the Raptors with 17 points and seven assists. The struggling Jason Kapono found his shooting form and went 2/3 from three point land and had nine points at the break.
Really, the whole Raptors team shot for high percentages, and shot 56%, compared to Milwaukee’s 41%. The three ball was also dropping, and the Raptors made seven of them on thirteen shots.
The Bucks literally looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but they got straightened out, and gave the Raptors fits in the second half.
The Bucks managed to cut the Raptor lead twice to 14 points, and once to nine points with about three minutes and change left. What helped the Raptors jump out to a solid lead, helped the Bucks and dropped three balls like nothing. The Raptors got a few points here and there, and their free throw shooting was top notch, as always.
The Raptors really caught a few breaks in the second half, as the Bucks’ field goal shooting was weak and missed a lot of open shots. The Bucks even outscored the Raptors 62-50 in the second half, but thanks to some solid defense from the first half, the Raptors had some insurance points.
After a quiet first half with seven points, Andrea Bargnani picked up his play and ended with a game high 23 points. Chris Bosh had a team high 14 rebounds, to go along with a quiet 18 points and just four in the second half. Jose Calderon was slowed down in the second half, but still managed a double-double with 19 points and eleven assists. The starting five for the Raptors finished in double figures, with the lowest point total being 17. Jason Kapono off the bench was the sixth Raptor who ended in double figures with 14 points and went 3/4 beyond the arc. The Raptors managed to shoot 47% on 34/71 field goal shooting and 50% on three point shooting by going 12/24. Four Raptors players had three or more made three point field goals.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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