Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic approved of his team’s response Wednesday night.
Pascal Siakam scored a game-high 26 points, Dennis Schroder had 24 points and 11 assists, and Toronto handily defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 130-111. The Raptors snapped a three-game losing skid that led to Siakam referring to the upcoming schedule as “must-win games” at practice Tuesday.
“It really feels like when you make shots, it’s the right way, and when you’re missing shots, it’s the wrong way,” Rajakovic said. “It’s (so) easy to have that bias, you know, just based on that.
“But 35 assists tonight is definitely something that we are looking for and that we want. I thought that the guys really responded tonight. Commitment on defensive end was really high level, as well. And when we do that, and we get stops, and we get out in transition, makes everything easier for us.
“Real difference for us tonight was actually our defensive rebounding. Keeping them to seven offensive rebounds, and having 20 rebounds more than them, is something that gives you opportunity in games.”
However, Rajakovic was unwilling to call the performance anything near perfect.
“Not even close. Not even close,” he said.
Siakam attributed the team’s energy and discipline on defence as a factor in the win. Bucks superstars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard were stifled to the tune of 31 combined points and only 13 by halftime.
“I thought we had better energy overall, which for us, I feel like it’s going to be crucial,” Siakam said. “Because of the length and all the things that we have as a team, we just have got to come out with a lot of energy.
“We can’t be flat out there. We got to use that to our advantage most nights.”
Toronto entered the contest coming off a dismal 4-for-29 three-point shooting performance in its loss to Portland on Monday. The Raptors bounced back Wednesday, hitting 15-of-39 from distance.
“No matter what, you have to continue to shoot them and shoot them with confidence,” said forward Scottie Barnes. “That’s what we’re going to continue to preach and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
Barnes added 21 points and 12 rebounds for Toronto (2-3). Jakob Poeltl had 14 points and 11 rebounds, with O.G. Anunoby chipping in 16 points.
The Raptors were missing forward Precious Achiuwa for a second consecutive game with a left groin strain.
Malik Beasley scored a team-high 20 points for Milwaukee (2-2).
“This is good because you get to learn,” said Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin, who was a Raptors assistant from 2018-2023. “Sometimes getting embarrassed is good because it forces you to focus on doing the right things consistently, and this is what this league is about.”
The Raptors used impressive play on both ends to jump out to a 22-8 lead 7:13 into the first quarter, going 4-for-5 from three-point range and 9-for-13 overall.
Barnes highlighted the stretch with a laser of a cross-court bounce pass on a fastbreak to get Anunoby a dunk before hitting a 26-foot stepback three on the ensuing possession. Paced by Siakam’s nine, Toronto led by as many as 17 and held a 31-18 edge after one.
The Raptors pushed their lead to 21 with a 10-2 run in the first 2:58 of the second quarter. Barnes capped it with a layup for two of his five points in the run before the Bucks called timeout.
After a missed fastbreak layup by Jae Crowder, Siakam drove on the other end and made a drop-off pass, while airborne, to Poeltl, whose dunk made it 58-32 with 2:59 left.
Toronto had four players with 10-plus points, led by Barnes’s 16, entering halftime with a 66-44 lead.
The Bucks, however, picked it up in the third quarter, going on an 8-0 run to make it 75-60 with 7:11 left.
But it turned out to be short-lived momentum. Toronto immediately answered with a 6-0 run across a 50-second span, punctuated by consecutive fastbreak dunks by Anunoby off defensive stops.
Milwaukee trimmed the deficit to as little as 13, but a Barnes three with 0.2 seconds left allowed the Raptors to close the frame up 95-79.
The early part of the fourth quarter belonged to Siakam. Despite the Bucks’ best efforts to inch closer, Siakam scored 11 points in the first 3:35, capped by a three to keep Milwaukee behind 110-88.
Toronto never relinquished that momentum en route to the dominant victory.
UP NEXT
The Raptors open a four-game road trip on Thursday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Bucks make a one-game stop in Milwaukee to play the New York Knicks on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2023.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
