GAME #7 Toronto Raptors 109 (6-1) - Milwaukee Bucks 124 (7-0)

[MixxAOR]

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE

Projected Starters

Bucks (6-0)	Raptors (6-0)
Eric Bledsoe.	Kyle Lowry
Malcolm Brogdon	Danny Green
Khris Middleton	Kawhi Leonard
Giannis Antetokounmpo	Pascal Siakam
Brook Lopez	Jonas Valanciunas

NOTES

Without ruling it out entirely, Nurse indicated that there's no plan to sit Kawhi out at all in the upcoming MIL-PHI back-to-back. "We're gonna go play 'em. He's feeling good and feeling fine, and we'll go from there."

— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) October 28, 2018

VanVleet was a limited participant in practice today. He said his toe is still sore but he's itching to get back and hopes to play tomorrow in Milwaukee. Listed as questionable.

— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) October 28, 2018

Nurse expects Wright (adductor) and Anunoby (personal) to play tomorrow. OG wasn't with the team in practice today but plans to meet them in Milwaukee.

— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) October 28, 2018

[Hotshot]

Toughest game of the season. I expect 2 out of the 3 players that were out vs Mavs to be on the bench against the Bucks. I am sure Nurse will be throwing Kawhi, Pascal and OG throughout the game to guard Giannis and hopefully force him to be a long 2 jumpshooter then closer to the paint area where he does most of his damage.

Bench will need to step up for this one, as it has been shaky all year. Go Raps go!!

[Maury]

OG did a good job on Giannis last year

[golden]

[inthepaint]

This is gonna be either the first L, or one of our best games of the year. It’s gonna be a heck of a test:

Their backcourt (Bledsoe/Brogdon) is not a big deal. Lowry can certainly get the edge over Bledsoe, and Brogdon, albeit shooting a healthy 38% from deep, should be matched well on both ends by Green. If anything, we probably have the advantage in the backcourt.

The problem here is their frontcourt:

They’re the the 3rd best rebounding team in the league right now (we’re 16th overall, but our main problem is DefRB, where we are 28th in the league). That discrepancy on the glass alone can give them the game.

Giannis is averaging 25 pts, 13.4 boards, and 5.2 assists on about just 30min/game. The good thing is that he has no outside shot (shooting 6.3% from deep on 3.2 attempts).

He’s surrounded by shooters though: Freaking Middleton is shooting 58% from deep (7.2 attempts), and Brook Lopez is shooting 41% on ~7 attempts. When they played Philly, Lopez hoisted 11 and made 5 (45.5%). And he is their Centre.

While I do think we can get a W here, in my opinion these 4 things all need to happen:

1. Kawhi must be a able to contain Giannis on his own. The basis of their offence is Giannis drawing help defenders, then kicking out to one of their knock-down shooters in the perimeter. If we allow that too much, we lose. Kawhi is probably the best perimeter defender in the league, but Monday he’s gonna be tested inside big time.

2. We need to mitigate the rebounding discrepancy. I don’t know how, but if we don’t, we‘ll likely lose. The obvious thought here is JV, but with Lopez so hot from outside, that’s a problem. Guys will need to box out very well, crash the glass and gang rebound as a group.

3. Limit silly live-ball turnovers because they’re also very strong in transition (their pace is very high, like ours, this will not be a slow grinding game, it will be high octane)

4. This game has all the makings of a dense chess match from the coaching standpoint. It’s Nurse vs. Budenholzer here. Whoever can adjust better in-game, call the proper timeous and exploit the opponent weaknesses will get the edge. If we do that, plus the three above, we win.

[Hotshot]

VanVleet jokes that Lowry’s numbers are up because DeRozan is gone and there’s somebody to pass him the ball.

— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) October 28, 2018

Joke or facts.. hard to decide.

[Scraptor]

They are a very very good team.

But we are a very very very good team. So we will win.

[Cody73]

This feels like a Lowry-Green-Kawhi-Pascal-Ibaka starting 5 is needed. But further more, LET'S DO THIS!

[golden]

[Hotshot]

As the saying goes: " The buck stops here!"

[thead]

someone shop this photo so there is a raptor logo on the hood

[planetmars]

[inthepaint]

[DanH]

I'm not sure who I'd start this game. On one hand, Lopez is an awful rebounder so is unlikely to punish Serge there, and camps at the three point line a lot this year. On the other hand, Milwaukee's transition offence is huge for them, so executing offensively will be important too, and everything on that end points to JV. Interested to see what Nurse does.

[white men can't jump]

I'm not sure who I'd start this game. On one hand, Lopez is an awful rebounder so is unlikely to punish Serge there, and camps at the three point line a lot this year. On the other hand, Milwaukee's transition offence is huge for them, so executing offensively will be important too, and everything on that end points to JV. Interested to see what Nurse does.

Lopez is a guy who can be a shooting threat but is also a very big, skilled post player. Could be a bad matchup for either guy.

My guess is Serge starts. Nurse seems to want to ride that for whatever reason, and Lopez is taking a lot of 3s this year.

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