Maybe you saw the Milwaukee Bucks winning their Game 3 matchup, at home, against the Toronto Raptors. Maybe you even saw them winning decisively.
But there’s no way you saw this.
The Bucks throttled the Raptors, 104-77, ending the game in the first quarter when they limited Toronto’s offense to just 12 points. They led by as many as 34, never trailed and won every battle you can think of. They doubled the Raptors’ three-point makes and almost tripled their number of assists. They lost the second-chance points war, but they didn’t miss enough for that to matter; they shot nearly 53 percent for the entire game.
Afterward, the Raptors were naturally pissed. Like, really pissed.
As Kyle Lowry said, per The Athletic’s Eric Koreen:
Lowry: "We got our ass busted."
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) April 21, 2017
P.J. Tucker offered similar sentiments:
PJ “They kicked our ass. They kicked our ass. Period. They came out and played harder, more aggressive, did everything they wanted to do."
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) April 21, 2017
Win Game 4, and the Raptors are fine. The series will be 2-2, and they’ll have regained home-court advantage.
But nothing over these first three games suggests the Raptors can just grind out a win when they need to. They slumped in Game 1, almost squandered Game 2 and came out flat in Game 3. The Bucks were always going to be an issue for whomever they faced, but the Raptors are actually crumbling against their length, hustle and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s hella long on-ball strides and playmaking.
And since there’s no answer for that Antetokounmpo problem specifically, the Raptors cannot be counted on for anything. They’re in real trouble, and it’s going to take a major about-face for them to win this series.
