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Preview | Raptors vs. Bucks: There's a Bucks game tonight!

While Wisconsin's eyes will be glued on the Final Four, the Bucks are technically playing an NBA basketball game tonight, too. CONTAIN YOUR ENTHUSIASM.

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Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sport
2013/14 NBA Season
Mil_medium
(14-62, 9-28 home)
vs.
Tor
(44-32, 20-18 road)
April 5, 2014
BMO Harris Bradley Center | Milwaukee, WI
7:30 CT
No Local | 1250 WSSP | Audio League Pass
Probable Starters
Brandon Knight PG Greivis Vasquez
Ramon Sessions SG Terrence Ross
Khris Middleton SF DeMar DeRozan
Jeff Adrien PF Patrick Patterson
Zaza Pachulia C Jonas Valanciunas
2013/14 Advanced Stats
91.7 (24th) Pace 91.8 (23rd)
102.4 (26th) ORtg 105.2 (16th)
111.4 (30th) DRtg 102.7 (7th)

Linkage | Raptors HQRaptors RepublicBucks Game NotesRaptors Game Notes

So I'm back in Milwaukee this weekend and I'm going to the Bucks game tonight. WHO'S COMING WITH ME???

[crickets]

OK, I figured as much. Seriously though, I *will* in fact be in Milwaukee tonight and hanging out with most of the Brew Hoop staff past and present (Messrs. Steve von Horn, Dan Sinclair, Eric Buenning and editor emeritus Alex Boeder) at Major Goolsby's before tonight's game. Feel free to stop by and buy us beers before the game. Or maybe we owe you a beer. Whatever. UW alums Dan and Steve are predictably sticking around to watch the Badger game as well, while the rest of us will be making our pilgrimage to the BC for game #77 in the season that shall not be named.

Tonight it's the surging Raptors in town, fresh off back-to-back wins over the Pacers and Rockets--but possibly shorthanded thanks to injuries to starters Kyle Lowry (knee) and Amir Johnson (ankle). Dwane Casey's bunch still managed to take down the slumping (but still second-seeded) Pacers in Indiana without either of them last night, as Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson took their spots in the starting five and Terrence Ross (24), DeMar DeRozan (20) and Jonas Valanciunas (22/9) picked up the slack. The win was Toronto's 44th, matching the Bulls who were busy dispatching the Bucks 102-90. I'm not sure why the Raptors would take any chances with either Lowry or Johnson given the competition, but we'll try to update as we learn more.

Everything but the game. You *may* have heard the Badgers are playing against Kentucky in the Final Four at the exact same time as this game, so don't expect much of a crowd at the BC tonight--and the people who do come will probably spend a lot of time watching the other game on TVs in the concourses. Considering the Bucks have a franchise record-tying 62 losses with six games to go, it's tough to blame them.

Not that the Bucks aren't providing their share of talking points lately, but most of them seem to be happening off the court. In case you missed anything:

  • Bill Simmons tweets that the Bucks are nearing a sale of the team to a new ownership group, though the Journal-Sentinel (aka the Bucks) tempered that excitement this afternoon by terming news of a sale "premature." Either way, things seem to be going in the right direction.
  • In the "sometimes good medicine tastes bad" column, the Sixers delivered another win in Boston last night, giving the Bucks a commanding three win "lead" in the race to the league's worst record.
  • Larry being Larry. Sigh.
  • With D.J. Stephens' 10-day contract expiring, the Bucks announced this afternoon that they have signed Chris Wright to a second 10-day deal to take Stephens' spot. Though none of them got any significant run, Wright was probably the most impressive of the three guys (Wright, Stephens and Tony Mitchell) that the Bucks have brought in for 10-day deals.