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The Bucks use group effort to beat Raptors 99-85 without Damian Lillard

by November 14, 2024

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The Milwaukee Bucks snapped a two-game losing streak with a 99-85 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum, and they did it without star guard Damian Lillard.

Lillard was ruled out late Monday night after entering the concussion protocol, but the Bucks had five players reach double figures in scoring. Milwaukee improved to 3-8 while Toronto dropped to 2-10. The victory also gave the Bucks a 1-0 start in Emirates Cup pool play.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was the primary initiator of the Bucks offense, and he scored 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting while handing out seven assists. He also was a force defensively around the rim, blocking four shots. It was the first time he blocked that many since March 26, 2022.

Brook Lopez blocked three shots of his own and added 13 points, his first game in double figures since Nov. 4.

Bobby Portis Jr. said that the Raptors were a team that emphasized getting to the paint and then getting second-chance points, and that “Giannis and Brook held the paint down for us tonight in that aspect and made it easier for other guys to get the rebound and get out and run. Sometimes our best offense is transition, getting up threes, ‘GA’ getting in transition, getting to the backboard fast sometimes is our best offense.”

Offensively, Portis added 17 off the bench, along with eight rebounds. AJ Green added 12 points and Ryan Rollins scored 12 as the duo earned their first start together in the back court.

Toronto was led by guard Gradey Dick, who scored a game-high 32 points. Jakob Poeltl added 13 for the Raptors.

BOX SCORE: Bucks 99, Raptors 85

In a sometimes frenetically paced game the Bucks put up a season-high 56 three-pointers, along with season highs in steals (16) and offensive rebounds (13).

“One of the things we’ve been harping on is getting to the paint and creating more threes,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said. “Well, we shot 56 of ’em today. And 50 of ’em were great shots. We jus didn’t shoot ’em well. Man, if we play like that every night and get those shots, we’re gonna be fine.”

Milwaukee scored 28 points off 22 Toronto turnovers, which helped them build an 11-point halftime lead. But, like their loss to Boston on Sunday, the Bucks came out flat out of the break and the Raptors tied the game at 54-54 with an 11-0 run to start the second half.

“If I knew, we wouldn’t do it,” Rivers said. “We talked about it before halftime coming out with a better start and we just didn’t. We’ll have to keep working on it.”

Milwaukee rallied, however, and led 81-67 after three and eventually led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter.

“Just going back and finding ourselves and what got us that lead in the first place, taking pride in getting stops first and going out on offense and running, continuing to trust to get open shots,” Green said of the team bouncing back after losing the lead. “And we made a few and got us going and went from there.”

The Bucks face Detroit Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.

Without Lillard, Bucks use collective effort to earn win

Following Monday morning’s shootaround, Green had a pretty good idea of how his team was going to have to play to make up for the absence of Lillard:

“I think it’s just that we need each other even more,” Green said before the game. “Dame carries a heavy burden in making plays but if we can play together more and play off each other we’ll be able to have the same advantages and we’ll all be able to find shots as well. So I think really just starting with our defense and then playing fast in the half court, playing side-to-side and playing with each other.”

Green proved prescient, as Gary Trent Jr. (back spasms) played his first game since Nov. 7 and Delon Wright (coach’s decision) played his first since Nov. 4 in backing up new starters in Green and Rollins.

Andre Jackson Jr. got into the act, too, off the bench and the five players combined for eight steals, eight rebounds and 14 first half points on 5-of-23 shooting (including 4 for 17 from behind the three-point line) to help the Bucks to a 54-43 lead.

Unfortunately, Rollins reinjured his bruised left shoulder late in the third quarter, and he went right to the Bucks locker room after subbing out with 3:15 to go in the frame. He finished with 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting and five steals to go with five rebounds and three assists.

“We all just had to play together, move the ball more, which I think we did,” Rollins said. “Shot a lot more threes. It was a collective group. Not one person can win the game or take over so everybody did it together for sure.”

Green, who came into the game leading the NBA in three-point shooting at a remarkable 60.5% clip, was just 4 for 14 from the field – all three-point attempts – but his dozen points were key. He also had five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Wright had five steals and had four rebounds. Jackson Jr. finished with two points, two assists and a steal.

“I was proud of everybody,” Green said after the game. “All those guys stepped up. Delon’s a vet, he hasn’t been playing a lot, he stepped up and had five steals, made some big plays, was solid defensively and got us into our stuff offensively. Ryan continuing to do a great job and building upon the opportunities he’s had. So, we just gotta keep doing that, you know? We did good tonight, build on it tomorrow.”

Trent played just five minutes in his return from suffering back spasms, and had a rebound.

“He was good, we just went another direction right now,” Rivers said of Trent. “We just got him back, didn’t want to overuse him. That was it.”

Milwaukee’s Ochai Agbaji getting a chance with Raptors

In his first full season with the Raptors, Milwaukee native Ochai Agbaji is getting a heavy does of playing time this season. He’s started 10 of the 12 games he’s played in, averaging over 31 minutes per game.

After being drafted No. 14 by Cleveland before being traded to Utah, the 24-year-old largely came off the bench for the Jazz in 110 career games. Traded to the Raptors at the deadline last season, Agbaji began to see more time.

He entered Tuesday night shooting an impressive 47.7% from behind the three-point line and 58.8% from the field overall in averaging 14.0 points per game – all easily career highs.

His offense was limited against the Bucks, however, as he drew Giannis Antetokounmpo as his primary defensive assignment – and was pushed to the court by the two-time MVP on the game’s opening possession. Agbaji played 35 minutes and scored eight points on 3 of 8 shooting. He had two steals, a block and was called for three fouls.

Agbaji was born in Milwaukee but moved to Kansas City, Missouri a few years later. He played four seasons at the University of Kansas and was the Big 12 Player of the Year and the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player in 2022.

Five numbers

1-1: Bucks record without Giannis Antetokounmpo or Damian Lillard. The Bucks fell to Cleveland on Nov. 4 when Antetokounmpo sat out with an adductor strain.

5: Consecutive pool-play wins in Emirates Cup play for the Bucks. They went 4-0 in pool play last season. Rivers was asked after the game if Giannis Antetokounmpo re-entering the game in the fourth quarter had anything to do with the point differential tiebreaker for pool play.Rivers: “It did not. They had cut the lead a little bit. I swear I wanted him not to play. I wanted us to keep it at 20 but the problem is when you’re in an NBA game and you get to that nine-minute mark, eight-minute mark and you haven’t played and the game is at 16. Then when they cut it to 10, if you wait, now the guy is sitting for 10 minutes and they have all the momentum. So you’ve got to be very careful with your substitutions’. But I am telling you I was trying to squeeze that. If we had could have kept that (lead), my intention was not to play him at all.”

7: First quarter shot attempts by Ryan Rollins in 7:47 of play, making one. He had attempted 11 shots in his first eight games (46 minutes).

Rollins: “Honestly I just came up with the mindset to be aggressive. Don’t be passive. So if I put pressure on the rim it creates openings for everybody else, for Giannis as well. I think I should play like that every game, be aggressive, play my game and if I continue to do that I’ll hit more shots for sure. It’s more to it for sure.”

16: Free throw attempts by Toronto guard Gradey Dick. He made 14. The Bucks as a team shot 12 free throws.

Rivers: “I thought we drove just as much as them. He got to the line.”

$514,970: Cash prize for each player on the Cup-winning team. This is up from $500,000 last season.

What is the latest on Bucks guard Damian Lillard?

Milwaukee’s all-star point guard Damian Lillard reported concussion-like symptoms and entered the NBA’s concussion protocol on Monday night after being struck in the head during the game against Boston on Nov. 10.

Lillard was inadvertently hit in the face by a referee waving off a late shot after time expired in the third quarter. He did play nearly seven minutes in the fourth, going 0 for 2 from the floor.

“Just from the hit in the eye socket or wherever, in the right spot,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said before the game. “That was it. We didn’t practice, we watched film yesterday and he had some headaches.

“Feeling pretty good. He did all the tests today that you’re supposed to do. That’s all I know.”

A league source told the Journal Sentinel Lillard is expected to be available for the Bucks game against Detroit on Wednesday night.

“Just guard by committee,” Rivers said. “That’s all we’re gonna do. When Dame’s out, that’s basically what it’s going to be. We know that I think we’re ready for that.”

Ryan Rollins will start in place of Lillard, “because with Giannis, he has protection with a ball handler,” Rivers said of the choice to start the 22-year-old.

“One thing I think Toronto has done a great job, they put a lot of pressure on the ball. They get up and turn it, and even with Dame, we’re gonna need Giannis today to bring the ball up against these guys.”

Bucks debut new Emirates Cup court

The Raptors were first to test out the new mostly-blue court at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday during their long morning shootaround, and there appeared to be no issues with the paint nor the boards used to construct the court.

Last season some teams experienced loose planks or slick paint, but the Bucks’ court was painted in late September/early October The floor was installed after the Marquette University game on Monday night, taking about three hours to unload it from its arrival from Praters Flooring in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“I think the NBA did a great job implementing this in-season tournament — I like it, I’m a fan of it,” Portis. “Sometimes the courts are kind of freaky. Like ours tonight. We got a crazy blue court, but it’s fun though.”

AJ Green and Gradey Dick slipped in the first quarter, but there weren’t any other obvious issues with the court traction.

In terms of construction, the Bucks’ court is “zippered” in that it is built from the middle row-out. Most of the 226 pieces are 8 feet by 4 feet with each row having a 4-foot by 4-foot end piece.

Is Giannis playing?

Most likely. He is probable to play with right patella tendinopathy, but he has been managing that issue in his knee all season and has yet to miss a game with it.

What is the NBA concussion protocol?

Lillard was publicly entered into the NBA concussion protocol via Bucks at 8:16 p.m. on Nov. 11 and immediately ruled out for tonight’s game. Per the NBA concussion policy, if a player is diagnosed with a concussion he must be monitored for 24 hours and may begin physical activity after that period. If the player is indeed diagnosed with a concussion, “he cannot return to full participation without restrictions: (i) for at least 48 hours after the time of injury; and (ii) until after he completes the required return-to-participation process.”

Read the 2024-25 NBA concussion protocol here.

The game tips off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin. Lisa Byington, Marques Johnson and Melanie Ricks will be on the call.

Bucks injury report

  • Khris Middleton, out (surgery on both ankles)Rivers: “He had some off-court stuff that he had to take care of. He was in the gym today but didn’t do much. It was his first day back after going through personal things. There’s no update. So I’m just gonna keep saying that. When I give you one, I’ll give you one but right now there’s just no update.”
  • Damian Lillard, out (concussion protocol)
  • Gary Trent Jr., available (back spasms)
  • Andre Jackson Jr., available (left hip pointer)
  • Giannis Antetokounmpo, available (right patella tendinopathy)

Raptors injury report

  • Scottie Barnes, out (right orbital fracture)
  • Bruce Brown, out (right knee surgery)
  • Kelly Olynyk, out (lumbar strain)
  • Ja’Kobe Walker, out (right AC joint sprain)
  • Garrett Temple, doubtful (back strain)
  • Immanuel Quickley, out (left elbow strain)

Bucks starting lineup

  • Guards: Ryan Rollins, AJ Green
  • Forwards: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Taurean Prince
  • Center: Brook Lopez

Bucks vs. Raptors odds, over/under

Milwaukee is a 7.5-point favorite over Toronto and the over/under is 227.5 points for the game, per BetMGM.

This story was updated to add a video.

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