Quick Reaction: Bucks 128, Raptors 104

Rusty start for Barrett, as he missed a late shot clock three badly and was 0/2 from the free throw line a few minutes later. He was subbed out rather quickly for Ochai Agbaji after a 0/3 start from the field. Barrett did however check back in late first quarter and was able to get on the scoring board with his fourth shot of the night. We’ll chalk it up to rust as RJ missed a couple of games recently and was able to get back to his usual relentless paint attacks. RJ went from 0/100 so quickly, as the 0/3 start turned into 6/9 from the field at the end of the first half. Star J took a fearless charge on Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was coming into the paint with a head of steam but he stood his ground early in the third quarter. Barrett kept his momentum going and finished the night with a consistent performance as he was the only Raptor who was reliable all night long.

Scottie Barnes started off passive before the first timeout of the game as he had yet to register a shot. Afterwards, he was able to finish a nice lob pass from Jakob Poeltl and then throw down a beautiful windmill dunk in transition. Barnes had a great second quarter with nine points. Scottie started the third quarter with a quick four points but that was pretty much it for him in the opening quarter of the final half and wasn’t much of a factor the rest of the way.

Poeltl got the night started for Toronto with his famous push shot, which is becoming a signature move for the Austrian big. He had a head-scratching turnover early in the first quarter as he drove to the rim and when he went up he realized it was a bad shot and had no option to pass it out so he ended up throwing it out of bounds. I criticized Poelt’s hands early in the season, as he was dropping a lot of passes, but he caught a fastball from Scottie Barnes midway through the second quarter to earn himself an and-one opportunity. Poeltl started off great and was involved in the offense, mostly in the first quarter and he faded as the game kept on progressing.

Quiet start for Gradey as his Friday night struggles against the Magic carried over with a scoreless first quarter on two shots. He ended the half on three shots and zero points and was pretty much a non-factor in the first 24. He finally got on the board with a corner three midway through the third quarter. Like Jack Armstrong pointed out tonight, Dick will at times struggle with his shot, but the confidence never goes away and he’ll keep letting them fly if he feels it’s a shot that he can make.

Quickley got going tonight on his first shot(three-pointer) off of a nice hard pick by Jakob Poeltl. IQ added another six points in the first half but wasn’t playmaking like we’ve seen him over the last few games. Quickley, just like Barnes and Poeltl started great but faded after the first half as he was unable to score another point the rest of the night.

Ochai was met with good and bad news today as the Raptors finally got RJ Barrett back from injury. The bad news was that Agbaji was relegated to a bench role (only his third game of the pine all season long.) He’s done a great job stepping into the starting role this season and has usually taken good shots while playing good defence. Agbaji was able to end a late 17-0 run in the first quarter with a transition dunk. We’ll see how Agbaji adjusts to life in the second unit as tonight was not a great start to life back on the bench.

Quiet first half. Just like Shead, he had a steal in the first 24 but that was it. Brown finally got his first points late in the third quarter off of a long rebound and transition layup which earned him an extra shot at the line, which he was able to convert. That was it for Brown’s lacklustre night.

Shead’s been throwing some difficult passes lately, which have led to many turnovers. Outside of a steal, it was a very pedestrian first half for the new backup point guard who has ascended himself over Davion Mitchell in the depth chart. Shead was able to get on the scoreboard midway through the third quarter almost as soon as he checked in the game. He had an aggressive fourth quarter in garbage time minutes but wasn’t able to add to his points tally.

Olynyk created a beautiful look for himself for his first shot of the game, as he pump-faked the defender and got a clean look that he missed at the tin. His second shot was also a crafty move that found him an open pull-up mid-ranger which he was not able to convert and it was another disappointing outing from the Canadian big.

Quiet first half, zero shots were taken from the Raptors first-round pick from last year’s draft class. Walter made it a trifecta of Raptors bench members who got their first points in the third quarter (everyone but Ochai Agbaji, who scored in the first half and Jonathan Mogbo who canned a triple late in the fourth quarter garbage time) with a three-ball. Walter enjoyed garbage time as he was able to find five more points to lead the Raptors bench unit with eight points tonight.

Garbage time minutes.

Not a huge fan of the rotations tonight. Personally, I’d like to see Chris Boucher play over Bruce Brown and reinsert Jonathan Mogbo into the rotation for Kelly Olynyk. We’ve been patient with Darko due to all the injuries Toronto sustained during this season and tonight the Raptors were as healthy as they’ve ever been and it was a very disappointing showing.