DeJa Vu: Didn’t we just play Toronto, in Toronto?
Take two vs. Toronto. pic.twitter.com/P7GORLWf9k
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 15, 2023
The (6-4) Milwaukee Bucks take on the (5-5) Toronto Raptors in Toronto, Canada Wednesday night. This is the last time Milwaukee will play Toronto on the road this season. For the Bucks New Head Coach Adrian Griffin these games in Toronto must feel pretty personal. He was instrumental in helping the Raptors win an NBA title. Toronto won the NBA Championship in the 2018-2019 season.
Vegas has the Bucks as slight favorites -4.0 and a 55% chance to win on the road.
Giannis is not playing in this game.
Milwaukee lost two weeks ago on Nov. 1st to Toronto, in Toronto. (130-111). It was not a good night for Milwaukee. Dennis Schroder’s 24 points and 11 assists led the way for Toronto who seemed to lead the whole way.
Giannis summed up the night with the following:
“We need days like this to realize that we have to get better, we are not there yet. We’ve got to keep on coming together as a team.”
Milwaukee Bucks keys
Score over 118 points
When Milwaukee lost to Toronto on Nov. 1st they only managed 111 points. For Milwaukee Giannis had 16 points and Dame had 15. That simply is not enough offense from your top two players to win the game.
When the Bucks lost to the Hawks they only scored 110 points; when they beat the 76ers opening night they scored 118.
Milwaukee, currently as a team, is averaging 116 points on the young season. That puts them at 7th overall in the NBA in scoring. While it is encouraging to see them at 7th, it would be even better if they scored more. Scoring seems to be down league-wide so scoring more that 118 points in a contest almost seems to guarantee victory.
Get significant scoring from Khris Middleton and Damian Lillard
Middleton is only averaging 11.4 points on the season. That is not where Milwaukee needs him to be. His career average is closer to 17 a game (16.9). How cool would it be for him to drop a big 30 point game!
Damian Lillard is also not scoring a ton right now. But he is scoring more than Middleton. Right now his per game average is 22.3. His career average is over 25 a game.
It has been well-documented that Lillard improves throughout the season. Check out this tweet below.
Damian Lillard’s scoring, by month:
Oct/Nov (11 GP): 26.3 PPG
December (12 GP): 29.2 PPG
January (15 GP): 34.5 PPG
February (10 GP): 38.5 PPG pic.twitter.com/caxVWBtCwb— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) March 1, 2023
The Opponent: The Toronto Raptors
Scottie Barnes is a good player and leads the team in scoring. Barnes is in his third year and plays a ton. He also leads the team in rebounding.
Toronto is still a good basketball franchise and team in spite of a slow start. While they are (4-6) on the season, Dennis Schroder has been a nice pick-up for them.
Pascal Skiam is arguably one of the better players in the NBA no one seems to talk about. He was 19th in the NBA in scoring (24.2 a game) and is a good passer (6.7 assists per game). When he “goes off”, the Raptors tend to win. He hasn’t really had a great game yet, so far, this season.
Point guard Dennis Schroder was added in the offseason from the Lakers. Rookie Gradey Dick was also added to the roster. Neither has found their footing either this year.
Gary Trent Jr. is also back with Toronto. Trent is an all-around player, averaging 17.4 points per game and 1.7 steals. He has been hurt of late and is unlikely to play.
7 ‘0 ” center Jakob Poeltl is also back with the Raptors after coming over from San Antonio in an NBA deadline deal. SO far on the year Poeltl is averaging 8 points and 8 rebounds a game.
Things to tell your buddies as you are watching the game
- The career scoring leader for the Toronto Raptors is DeMar DeRozan with 13,296 points. He also leads the franchise in games, minutes played and missed field goals.
- Chris Bosh is the career leader for the Raptors in rebounding.
- Check out my first piece with this online magazine and “That One Time Dirk Nowitski was a Milwaukee Buck”.
Follow me on Twitter at @authorrudylb and check out my other writings at www.rudylb.com. Follow us at @WiSportsHeroics! For all things Wisconsin sports, click here! Also, check out our merch store for some amazing WSH merchandise!
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