Ersan Ilyasova paces Milwaukee Bucks to a 105-99 win over the Toronto Raptors – NBA Recap
Coming into the game, the Milwaukee Bucks had lost the last four fixtures on the road, but with seven wins in the last eight games at Toronto, Sunday night’s game presented a good opportunity for the Bucks to end the tail spin.
The game turned out to be humdinger, but courtesy of a huge night from Ersan Ilyasova, the visitors managed to pull off a 105-99 win against the Toronto Raptors.
The Turkish power forward continued to ride hot and recorded 31 points, 12 rebounds and two steals as the Bucks closed in on the New York Knicks for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. Drew Gooden added 21 points while Mike
Dunleavy came off the bench for 19 points, six rebounds and six assists.
"Huge road victory for us.” Gooden said after the game. “Every game right now is important to us for our goal that we want to accomplish and that is making the playoffs. Every game is important right now."
DeMar DeRozan dropped 21 points to lead the charge for the Raps, who had 16 points and six assists from Jerryd Bayless. Amir Johnson had 12 and Andrea Bargnani could only manage 11 points in his second game back.
The Raps were hot early, racing off to a 12-4 start. A little over three minutes into the game, there was another 12-4 run, but this time it was from the Bucks, who neutralized the game at 16 apiece. Johnson scored five consecutive
points to get Raptors ahead again and a 7-1 burst, capping the quarter put Toronto ahead by 28-21.
The Raps then started the second quarter with a 12-6 spurt, extending their lead to 40-27. They held onto a double digit edge till late in the half, but the Bucks finished strongly with an 11-4 run to make it a five point game
(51-56) at the break. Ilyasova chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds in the second.
After some early offensive pressure in third, the Bucks finally managed to draw level at 68 with a 9-3 burst. The Bucks lead however didn’t come till 2:06 when Ilyasova made two free throws to make it 75-74. Entering the last minute
of the period, the Bucks were leading by 78-76, but Leandro Barbosa drilled one from downtown to give the hosts a 79-78 edge.
The fourth quarter was one tight affair and after seven lead changes, the game finally boiled down to the last 2:35 with the Bucks holding onto a 99-97 advantage. Scott Skiles, the Bucks head coach, took a time out at that point
and when play returned, the Raptors missed four consecutive tries, before DeRozan finally managed a jumper with 17seconds to go.
By then though, it was too late as the Bucks had drawn out a 104-99 and Beno Udrih split a pair of free throws to seal the win.
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