On a three-game winning streak, the Toronto Raptors will visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, hoping to make it four in a row. Milwaukee is currently leading the NBA.
On Saturday, Toronto (35-36) defeated Minnesota 122-107 at home to begin its weekend back-to-back. The Raptors scored 66 points in the first half and shot better than 53% from the field on 48 of 90 shots in the game.
Fred VanVleet had 28 points and seven assists, while Pascal Siakam had 27 points and 10 rebounds. Toronto remained in ninth place in the Eastern Conference as the duo led six Raptors players to double figures.
The Raptors have, in fact, been scoring a lot of points lately. For this run of victories, the Toronto offense has been on fire, scoring at least 122 points in each of the three games.
The Bucks are a formidable opponent for the Raptors, scoring an average of 116.2 points per game, and the Raptors will be looking to build on that success.
Milwaukee (50-20) plays at a good pace, but the last time it played, it let in 84 second-half points against the Indiana Pacers in a 139-123 defeat.
In the loss, which was the Bucks’ second in seven games, they allowed eight different Pacers to score double figures.
This was only Lopez’s second absence of the season, his first since Dec. 5. Antetokounmpo’s 31.4 points per game and Jrue Holiday’s 19.4 points per game place the veteran center third on the Bucks.
Grayson Allen and Jae Crowder sat out with foot and calf injuries, respectively, while Lopez was sidelined with an injury to his ankle against the Pacers.
The matchup between Toronto and Milwaukee on Sunday is the first of two scheduled for the final three weeks of the regular season. On April 9, they will meet once more in the regular-season finale.
In 2022-23, the Raptors have not won a game against the Bucks. On Jan. 17, they lost to the Bucks 130-122 in Milwaukee and 104-101 in overtime in Toronto. VanVleet went for 39 places in the Jan. 17 misfortune, however Occasion’s 37 and 25 from Allen significantly impacted the Bucks.
In the overtime game, Antetokounmpo had 30 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists for a triple-double. In the defeat, VanVleet had 28 points and 12 assists.
