In an embarrassing display, the Milwaukee Bucks were blown out by the Toronto Raptors one night after beating the Indiana Pacers on the buzzer. RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes absolutely diced Milwaukee’s lacklustre defence en route to big scoring nights. The season series now stands at 1-1 between these two teams. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.
Player Grades
Giannis Antetokounmpo
23 minutes, 22 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 9/14 FG, -8
Giannis was clearly (like everyone) gassed from the previous night, and that fatigue showed on defence, where he looked pretty disengaged. Still, he shot efficiently while getting zero help from the refs, who seemed content to sit back and watch while the big fella got mauled down there in the paint.
Myles Turner
22 minutes, 10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3/7 FG, 2/4 3P, -11
I didn’t see too much to be upset about with Myles’ game in this one; he mostly did his job on both ends. I think not playing with true point guards is impacting how effective he can be on offence.
16 minutes, 9 points, 3/4 FG, 3/4 3P, -17
Doc needs to get AJ more looks from deep. As for the defence, Rivers went away from Green because of size concerns and foul trouble.
Ryan Rollins
28 minutes, 11 points, 5 assists, 2 turnovers, 5/13 FG, 1/5 3P, -13
Rollins just didn’t have it from a shooting perspective in this one. I thought he made some plays for others and his defence was good, though.
Gary Trent Jr.
21 minutes, 6 points, 2/4 FG, 2/4 3P, -7
Gary was tasked with guarding Brandon Ingram and was simply too small to have any impact.
Cole Anthony
24 minutes, 12 points, 4 assists, 5/9 FG, -20
Cole had the team’s worst plus/minus, but that had more to do with him playing into garbage time and in the ghastly second unit. That said, it’s not as if I was impressed with what Anthony did on defence.
Taurean Prince
20 minutes, 0 points, 0/5 FG, 0/5 3P, -9
Prince has to eat off the team’s playmakers to get good looks, and those playmakers couldn’t really get him good looks. It was a bit of a cardio night for TP.
Bobby Portis
20 minutes, 2 points, 9 rebounds, 1/8 FG, 0/5 3P, -16
Man, what can you even say at this point? If Bobby isn’t making shots, he is going to hurt you severely. It’s been a theme for his entire stint in Milwaukee, and last night was no different. Part of me feels bad about this commentary because there are other subpar defenders on this team, but the difference is that they don’t play centre.
Kyle Kuzma
26 minutes, 18 points, 4 turnovers, 7/14 FG, 2/5 3P, -16
I thought there were some good and bad moments from Kuzma’s game. On one hand, there were stretches where he reverted to trying to play outside himself and turned the ball over in doing so. On the other hand, he had stretches where he was one of the more positively impactful players on the Bucks, and his defence continues to be quite good.
Doc Rivers
Doc was somewhat hamstrung by his team being tired as they headed into the game. That said, the Raps’ bigger wings were feasting all game, and I think Doc took too long to go to a bigger lineup with Kuzma at the three. I will, however, give Rivers credit for not continuing to play Giannis when the game was out of reach. He rode Giannis a lot last year in games that were already lost.
Limited Minutes: Amir Coffey
Garbage time: Gary Harris, Jericho Sims, Andre Jackson Jr., Mark Sears
DNP-CD: Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Inactive: Pete Nance, Alex Antetokounmpo
Bonus Bucks Bits
Doc acknowledged that his team was gassed, and that he could see it from the very beginning. He thought Toronto’s physicality was one of the main reasons they dominated the game.
Rivers continued to chat about how Giannis is refereed in the postgame—as he did two nights ago in Indy—commenting on the fact that Giannis rarely complains to officials, so when he does, it generally means they are doing something wrong.
The Bucks went 11/38 from three (28.9%). For a team that is going to rely on three-point shooting all season, that cannot happen too often.
Mark Sears scored his first NBA points and generally looked pretty good in garbage time. The thought of how they could get him into the game in real minutes did cross my mind. If Milwaukee is playing a team that plays three guards, maybe he could fit in. I trust his ability to contribute on offence.
Not for nothing, but this is 2/2 games now where old friend Mamu has actively sought out Bobby Portis and attacked him repeatedly. Not great!
The Bucks now get a two-day rest before they play their opening NBA Cup game on Friday against the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Bulls. Catch the game on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin at 7:00 p.m. CST.