Milwaukee Bucks defeat Toronto Raptors but still lose out on Playoff Race – NBA Recap
The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Toronto Raptors here at the Bradley Center, but were still knocked out of the playoffs on Monday night.
The Bucks handed the Raptors a 92-86 defeat, but with the Philadelphia 76ers beating the New Jersey Nets earlier the final post season berth in the Eastern Conference had already been sealed. Before Monday, the Bucks needed to
win their remaining three games of the season and have the 76ers lose all three of their remaining games if they wanted to advance to the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Bucks, the Sixers won on their first of those three outings and locked up the final spot.
Brandon Jennings scored a game high 25 points to lead the Bucks. He had 5 assists to go with those points. James Johnson was the scoring leader for Toronto, scoring 22 points from 10 of 21 shooting and grabbing 13 rebounds in
the process.
Toronto played strong basketball in the first quarter, leading throughout the period to finish with a 25-17 advantage. The Bucks came back in the 2nd period to take the lead 30-29 with 8:03 remaining, Toronto regained
the lead and finished the half leading 48-43.
The Raptors kept the offensive momentum alive in the 3rd period, opening the quarter with a 13-4 run to extend their lead to 61-47. The Bucks then came alive and worked their way back into the game, slowly chipping away
on the lead to trail 62-67 at the end of the 3rd period.
Milwaukee stormed into the final quarter, scoring the first 7 points to take the lead, 69-67. The game remained pretty much tied throughout the quarter after that, till the final minutes of the game when the Bucks started to pull
away.
Trailing the Raps by 2, Jennings went up for a layup and one, giving him a chance for a three point play. He nailed the free throw to put the Bucks up by 1. On the other end, a dunk attempt by Ed Davis was blocked by Ersan Ilyasova,
and Monta Ellis was fouled on the subsequent Bucks play. The shooting guard scored both free throws to put the Bucks up by 82-79 with 3:27 remaining. Ilyasova then went on to hit a jump shot followed by a 3 pointer to seal the fate for the Raptors, with the
Bucks leading 89-81 and over a minute left in play. The Bucks went on to win 92-86.
Ilyasova had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the night, shooting 6 of 10 from the field for the Bucks. Monta Ellis had 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Alan Anderson added 11 points for the Raptors but was 3 of 13 from the field.
Gary Forbes and Linas Kleiza both came off the bench to add 15 points for the Raptors, with Kleiza adding 9 rebounds as well. These two were a combined 4 of 9 from beyond the arc.
The Raptors shot better from the field compared to the Bucks. They were 34-76 as compared to the Bucks who went 29-78. They also outrebounded the Bucks 49-43 and had 24 assists as compared to 16 for Milwaukee. But the Bucks had
twice the free throws attempts as the Raptors at 36, and scored on 28 of those to give them a 14 point advantage from the free throw line.
The Bucks also had 10 steals for the night compared to 5 for the Raptors. And they turned the ball over 11 times while the Raptors committed 21 turnovers. Plus, the Bucks outscored the Raptors 30-19 in the final period which proved
to be the deciding factor in the game.
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