Following up on Alex's recap, my knee-jerk reactions:
- Watch NBA.com highlights.
- The Bucks shot 60% from the field, Desmond Mason scored 21 points without missing a shot from the field, Chris Bosh scored just 1 point, and the game was effectively decided by the end of the first quarter. Yes, it was a good night to be a Bucks fan.
- Desmond Mason was the player of the game with his obscene 10-10 performance from the field. He set the tone early with an alley oop, an athletic reverse lay-in, and a couple of those 10-15 foot hook shots out of the post that he has no business being so effective with.
- Some more love is in order for Mike Redd. He followed up his 27/9/5 game against the Bulls by filling up the box score nicely again--17 points (7/14 fg, 3/6 3fg), 7 rebounds and 6 assists. AND he worked on defense. If Redd keeps up this sort of all around play the Bucks will be a very good basketball team. Huge kudos to Redd for backing up all the talk about him playing a more all-around game.
- I'm not going to act like the Bucks didn't get the benefit of the officiating tonight. Even though fouls weren't totally slanted (22-18), the non-calls and border line calls all seemed to go the Bucks' way. But hey, we all know the Bucks ALWAYS get all the calls--the benefit of being in a big market.
- Bogut was again controlling the glass, hauling down 11 boards (seemed like more) to go along with 12 points in 32 minutes. The Bucks outrebounded their fourth straight opponent, 43-30, though in fairness the Bucks didn't give the Raptors many defensive rebounding opportunities. Bosh was plagued by foul trouble but the bottom line was he wasn't effective even when he was in. Bogut has been, gulp, a very good defender so far this year.
- Yi was again a major factor, scoring 12 points along with 3 assists in 29 minutes, but perhaps more importantly he played some very solid defense against the perimeter-oriented Raps. Bargnani only took three shots in 15 minutes and was clearly having trouble getting free for open perimeter looks. Bargnani did have one sick dunk after Yi overplayed him, but was otherwise a non-factor. Yi finished with three blocks; none were of the "get it out of my house" style, but he's already got a great knack for staying with guys and using his length to get a piece of the ball. He only pulled down 4 rebounds, but that's something we're going to have to accept.
- I must have missed it, but my buddy Andy said Paschke had the quote of the game following some good Bucks defense: "I'm not sure I recognized that...was that a shot challenge?" Yes, the Bucks are playing some defense.
- Credit to Mo Williams for running a very tight ship offensively. Mo finished 6/7 from the field for 13 points along with 6 assists and 2 TOs in 28 minutes.
- Tony Brown took over head coaching duties for the night while Larry Krystkowiak took time to be with his expectant wife Jan. The Krystkowiaks are expecting twins.