Rapid Recap: Bucks 104, Raptors 101 (OT)

Badger fans felt right at home during a truly eye-gouging offensive display to start this game, but somehow, someway, despite blowing a 21-point lead with four minutes to go, the Milwaukee Bucks vanquished the Toronto Raptors, 104-101 in overtime. Whoo boy that was a roller coaster with Giannis posting a 30-20-10-10 (turnover) night.

NBA.com Box Score

A horrific first period of offensive basketball on both sides led to a 13-12 Bucks lead after one. Yes, you read that right, 13-12. That’s what a combined 7-47 shooting performance gets you. The slopfest slipped into the second, but thankfully each team found some semblance of rhythm en route to a 39-38 advantage for Milwaukee at half. The Bucks still didn’t look all that crisper in the third, but they were able to extend that lead oh so slightly with a 63-59 score to start the fourth. Finally in the fourth, a combination of threes, Giannis Antetokounmpo imposing his will, and the Raptors continuing to shoot horrendously, helped lead to a 90-69 lead for Milwaukee. From there, everything that could go wrong, did. The Raptors backcourt pressure turned into gaffes by the Bucks. Their shots started falling. The refs inexplicably called a clear push on Bobby as a clean out of bounds call that went to Toronto. Somehow, someway, Nick Nurse’s annoying band of minutes-eaters tied the game at 97 on a Gary Trent Jr. three to send it into overtime.

Scoring was hard to come by for most of OT, but the decisive blow came when Grayson Allen received an incredible pass from Giannis for a final three out of the corner.

Stat that Stood Out

I believe I counted 24 straight missed shot attempts between these two teams in the midst of the first quarter. There are more consequential stats to the eventual outcome of this wackadoo game, but nothing will stand out more in my mind than the level of horrific shotmaking that ensued for those first few minutes of game time.