Milwaukee Bucks: 5 Reasons They Defeated The Toronto Raptors

Jonas Valanciunas Did Not Dominate

The Toronto Raptors were supposed to have a cheat code of their own, a not-so-secret weapon that the Bucks would be powerless to stop. The length of Milwaukee’s wings would not help them against the post brutality of Jonas Valanciunas.

For a brief stretch in the first half, that looked to be true. Valanciunas scored and drew the foul, draining the free throw. The next time down the floor the defense pulled to the post to stop him from repeating, leading to a wide-open Toronto three-pointer.

Possession three and Valanciunas was dropping in another basket.

But Milwaukee adjusted, pulling Mirza Teletovic from the game (he totaled just six minutes in the game) to insert a faster Michael Beasley at the 4. For the remainder of the game Kidd asked his wings to stunt towards Valanciunas and then recover to the outside.

That adjustment combined with Greg Monroe’s hard-nosed game kept Valanciunas from finding a rhythm again.

The Toronto center would not make another shot from the field that night, only scoring from the foul stripe. He finished with nine points, nine rebounds, and a minus-14 net rating.

Whether Dwane Casey and the Raptors can find new ways to deploy Valanciunas will have to be seen, but Milwaukee won Game 1 inside.