D'Amato: Bucks' turn to clean up mess
Many would conclude, after glancing at the stat sheet Saturday, that this was just one of those games for the Milwaukee Bucks in which the circumference of the rim was seemingly smaller than the diameter of the ball.
The Bucks shot just 37% and compounded their poor aim by playing in third gear instead of fifth – coach Jason Kidd’s analogy – and being careless with the ball.
That, however, only partially explains their 87-76 loss to the Toronto Raptors in Game 4 of the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
The other part of the equation is that there were some bruised egos in the Raptors’ locker room after the 27-point beat-down they suffered in Game 3. They took it personally, as one would expect of professional athletes.
“We were pretty awful,” guard Kyle Lowry said. “We embarrassed ourselves in Game 3 and we didn’t want to let it happen in Game 4.”
GAME STORY: Toronto evens series
D'AMATO: Bucks' turn to clean up mess
RELATED: Antetokounmpo held in check
ore important than appealing to his team’s pride, however, were the adjustments Raptors coach Dwane Casey made. He tweaked his starting lineup, replacing slow-footed Jonas Valanciunas with smaller and quicker Norman Powell and moving Serge Ibaka to center. He also schemed to get guards DeMar DeRozan and Lowry out of traps and into better looks.
Maybe you missed it, but the first play of the game was a tone-setter.
Thirteen seconds had elapsed when Powell hip-checked Bucks rookie Thon Maker on an alley-oop attempt, sending Maker flailing out of bounds and drawing a foul. It sent the message that the Raptors weren’t going to be bullied again.
Then there was goal-line defense Toronto played against Giannis Antetokounmpo. Every time he touched the ball in the paint the Raptors all but gang-tackled him. His play, measured and efficient earlier in the series, hinted of frustration. He missed his first five shots, went 0 for 7 in the second half and had seven of the Bucks’ 20 turnovers.
BOX SCORE: Raptors 87, Bucks 76
NOTES: Kidd's game plan is in the cards
NBA: Scoreboard | Saturday's playoff recaps
Finally, DeRozan and Lowry, who made a combined 4 of 18 shots in Game 3, went off for 33 and 18 points, respectively.
“I knew lightning don’t strike twice in the same spot,” DeRozan said.
The series, tied 2-2, now becomes a best-of-three and Toronto has the home-court advantage with Games 5 and 7 (if necessary) at the Air Canada Centre.
“Every game is a different story,” Casey said. “There’s a lot of things we can clean up from this game. I’m sure they’re going to make adjustments and I’m sure we’ve got to change some things, also. So I think it’s going to be a chess match for the next three games, and there’s no edge.”
Speaking of adjustments, it’s up to Kidd and his staff to figure out how the Bucks could shoot 52.7% and score 104 points in Game 3 and lay an egg on offense two days later.
The ball movement was sloppy, there was a little too much one-on-one and the Bradley Center crowd became a non-factor in the second half, its roar reduced to a tepid “Go Bucks Go” in the final minutes.
“Our tempo was extremely slow,” Kidd said. “Give them credit, they slowed us down. It wasn’t a high-scoring game. No one could make a shot. They found a way to slow us down and our tempo really slowed down in the second half and came to a halt. Our energy level was low for whatever reason and we’ve got to fix that.”
The good news is that the Bucks continue to play solid defense. They held the Raptors to 41.3% shooting overall and 22.7% on three-pointers.
“It was real old-school Eastern Conference basketball,” Lowry said. “It was kind of ugly, but we won.”
This series is starting to feel like it will go to a seventh game. Ultimately, the winner will be the team that makes the more effective adjustments.
“This is and up-and-down league,” Casey said. “One day you’re the statue, the next day you’re the pigeon.”
It’s the Bucks’ turn to clean up the mess.
