Kyle Lowry scored a milestone basket early and made things interesting for the Raptors late with a 14-point fourth quarter.
But the Milwaukee Bucks answered every Raptor run in a 115-108 victory Wednesday.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was one assist from a triple-double with 24 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists for Milwaukee (11-6). Khris Middleton had 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists while Brook Lopez added 20 points and seven rebounds.
Four straight baskets, including three three-pointers, by Lowry helped Toronto (7-11) cut the lead to 106-102 with under two minutes remaining. Milwaukee held firm, however.
Earlier Lowry became the third player to reach the 10,000-point milestone as a Raptor, scoring on Toronto’s second shot attempt at Amalie Arena.
The 34-year-old guard sank a three-pointer from 24 feet just 51 seconds into the game after a steal by Fred VanVleet. DeMar DeRozan (13,296) and Chris Bosh (10,275) are the only others to score 10,000 in Raptors colours.
WATCH | Antetokounmpo leads Bucks past Raptors:
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton records 24 points apiece in Milwaukee’s 115-108 win over Toronto. 0:50
Norm Powell had a season-high 26 points for Toronto, his fourth consecutive 20-plus outing. Six Raptors finished in double figures with Lowry finishing at 21. VanVleet had 10 points and 10 assists.
“I think there was a lot of good to take from the game, there’s a lot of positives to take from the game,” said Toronto coach Nick Nurse.
But he rued some missed offensive play executions.
“If you’re going to beat a high-level team, those things have got to get cleaned up,” he said.
Toronto made 22-of-55 three-point attempts with Aron Baynes 1-of-7, Pascal Siakam 1-of-4 and VanVleet 2-of-11. Lowry was good on 6-of-8 attempts, making all four from distance in the fourth.
Milwaukee outscored Toronto 40-26 in the paint.
WATCH | Lowry reaches new plateau in Raptors franchise scoring ranks:
Kyle Lowry joins Chris Bosh and DeMar DeRozan as the only players to record 10,000 points with the Toronto Raptors. 0:34
Siakam (11 points) returned to the Raptors lineup after a two-game absence due to left knee swelling. But OG Anunoby (calf) was unable to go due to a calf issue.
The game marked the one-quarter mark of the 72-game season for Toronto. The Raptors were 14-4 and riding a six-game win streak at the same stage last season.
Lowry actually came into the game with 13,730 points, having scored 1,217 in two-plus seasons with Memphis and 2,515 in three-plus campaigns with Houston.
Golden State’s Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, Portland’s Damian Lillard, Washington’s Bradley Beal and Milwaukee’s Antetokounmpo are the only active players with 10,000 points with their current team.
VanVleet played provider in the first quarter with seven assists, helping centre Baynes — who came into the game averaging 4.7 points this season — collect seven points early. Powell led all scorers with 10 points in the quarter.
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Host Morgan Campbell speaks with Meghan McPeak and Dave Zirin, as they examine the legacy and impact of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, on the one-year anniversary of their tragic passing. 6:36
A 10-3 Toronto run at the end of the first quarter tied the score at 33-33.
The Raptors led by five in the second quarter before they went cold and the Bucks reeled off a 21-7 run to lead 63-54 at the half.
Antetokounmpo had 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the half.
Toronto opened the third quarter with an 8-1 run to cut the lead to two. But Milwaukee answered with an 10-2 run of its own to make it a double-digit lead. The Raptors kept chipping away and only trailed 83-82 going into the fourth on the back of a 9-0 run.
The Raptors pulled ahead 84-83 on a Yuta Watanabe two-pointer but Milwaukee scored the next nine points.
After Toronto cut the lead to 100-94, Milwaukee challenged an offensive foul call against Antetokounmpo with 4:48 remaining. The Bucks won the challenge and the Bucks star buried two free throws to make it an eight-point game.
Toronto, coming off a 129-114 loss in Indiana on Monday, had won five of its last seven following a 2-8 start to the season.
The Bucks, who downed visiting Atlanta 129-115 on Sunday, were well-rested. The Hawks game was their first since a loss to the Lakers last Thursday, given Friday’s contest against Washington was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the Wizards.
Toronto hosts the Sacramento Kings on Friday in Tampa. Milwaukee continues its road trip with games in New Orleans on Friday and Charlotte on Saturday.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
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