The Toronto Raptors‘ seven-game winning streak against the Milwaukee Bucks came to an end Saturday night. It was just Toronto’s second loss to Milwaukee in their last 14 matchups.
After they built up a 10-point first quarter lead, Toronto had no answers at both ends of the court. The Raptors looked like a tired ball club on the second night of a road back-to-back competing in their fifth game in the last seven days. Toronto is now 5-2 without Kyle Lowry in the lineup since his wrist injury.
Here are my takeaways on an ugly Raptors loss:
From first to worst
It wasn’t a tale of two halves but it was a tale of two games. The first quarter was all Raptors and then it plummeted downhill.
Milwaukee shot 18.2 per cent in the first quarter, the Raptors’ best first-quarter opponent field-goal percentage since Feb. 10, 2006 when they held Charlotte to 16.7 per cent from the floor. After giving up a season-low points in a quarter in the first (12), Toronto gave up a season-high 41 in the second as Milwaukee turned things around to outscore the Raptors 41-23 in second quarter. Giannis Antetokounmpo only had two points after the first quarter, then turned it on and finished with 21.
Despite having the most wins in the league after being down by 10 (16), Toronto couldn’t overcome a deficit that swelled up to as high as 14. An unlikely pairing of Fred VanVleet, Cory Joseph, Norman Powell, P.J. Tucker and Serge Ibaka cut the lead to as low as four points in the fourth but couldn’t muster enough offence to get over the hump.
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Turnovers turned the game around
Once again taking care of the ball was Toronto’s biggest issue. The Raptors had 11 turnovers leading to 20 Milwaukee points. DeMar DeRozan was the biggest culprit with three. The Bucks, on the other hand, coughed the ball up just six times.
DeRozan struggles
DeRozan was off from the start and it never really got better. He didn’t attempt a shot in the first quarter in nine minutes played. His first shot attempt and basket came with six minutes left in the half. DeRozan finished with a season-low 11 points, shooting 5-of-13 from the floor with one free-throw attempt. DeRozan was averaging 34.3 points in the previous six games without Lowry along with 10 or more free-throw attempts in each of them.
DeMarre goes down
The loss wasn’t the only bad news for the Raptors: DeMarre Carroll left the game with a left ankle sprain. He went straight to the locker room after being injured in the third quarter and didn’t return. After playing only 26 games last season due to injury, Carroll has missed just five in this campaign. The 30-year-old is averaging 9.3 points and 4.1 rebounds this season but has been trusted by Dwane Casey to not just start but to close games. With the trade of Terrence Ross and Carroll’s injury, the addition of Tucker now looks even more crucial.
Rest on the road
This loss feels like a missed opportunity because as tough as the schedule has been, it is about to get tougher. The Raptors have a much-needed three days off but are still on the road. They have a tough travel stretch from March 8-16 where they are at the New Orleans Pelicans, at the Atlanta Hawks, at the Miami Heat, then return home to face the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
This is by far the toughest week of basketball the Raptors have left in the regular season before they finish against the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers.