The Milwaukee Bucks’ NBA Cup-winning form seems to have stayed in Las Vegas, but they aim to change that Monday night when they visit the Toronto Raptors.
The Bucks are 3-5 since defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 to win the in-season tournament on Dec. 17, including a 105-102 home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday. That followed a 113-110 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday.
“We’re not playing well,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 31 points on Saturday. “Two close games, we weren’t able to get them. It definitely hurts. We’re not playing well. I feel like before Vegas we figured some things out, had a great rhythm, playing very well as a team.
“After Vegas I think we kind of took a dip, digging ourselves again into a hole. … We’ve got to lock in as a team, play harder, compete, try to get the next one.”
The Raptors are having their own problems. Their 106-97 home loss to the Orlando Magic on Friday was their 12th in their past 13 games.
The Bucks won the first meeting of the season with the Raptors 99-85 in Milwaukee on Nov. 12, starting them on a 12-3 run to get to the NBA Cup final. They were 2-8 entering the game against Toronto.
During their recent stretch, they have lost twice to the Nets, the team that the Raptors defeated on Wednesday 130-113 to end an 11-game losing streak.
“It’s frustrating watching us play,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “I just think where we had them a week or two before Vegas and then going into Vegas we haven’t returned, we’re not playing right. And it’s on both ends.
“Defensively we’re getting beat off the dribble over and over again. Getting beat off the glass. Offensively I don’t see us playing with much pace. We’re not getting in the paint much.”
The Raptors followed up their win over Brooklyn with a dull defensive effort against Orlando. They allowed the Magic to make 19 3-point shots on 44 attempts (43.2 percent), including 9-for-14 in the first quarter (64.3 percent).
“We just did not get close enough to shooters that we identified as shooters,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We allowed rhythm shots and they caught fire. … The first quarter was really the biggest difference there.”
“We just had a couple possessions in a row where we made undisciplined mistakes, where we messed up some scouting report stuff,” added Jakob Poeltl, who led Toronto with 25 points on Friday. “There were a couple times where we just didn’t close aggressively enough, and they got 3 out of it.”
The Raptors have been dealing with injuries all season, but they’ve gotten Immanuel Quickley back for the past two games after he missed 22 games with an elbow injury. Quickley returned against Brooklyn and had 21 points and 15 assists before adding 11 points and 11 assists against Orlando.
The Bucks are 6-9 on the road and the Raptors are 7-12 at home.
