Milwaukee Bucks: 4 Keys To Winning Game 5 Against Toronto Raptors

Limiting Turnovers

Turnovers are deadly to putting together a quality offense. Ending a possession with a bad shot is not the most desired outcome, but it comes with a chance – however small – of putting points on the board.

It also puts the ball somewhere around the basket, where your team has a chance to grab an offensive rebound. At the worst it gives the offense time to get back in transition to close off most fast-break opportunities, limiting the offensive ceiling of the opponent.

Turnovers provide the offense a zero percent chance of scoring points, and live-ball turnovers often result in high-percentage offense for the opposing team in the form of fast-break scoring.

Instead of placing the ball near the hoop, 94 feet from the other basket, turnovers can often put the ball in the opponent’s hands with just open court ahead of them.

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In Game 4 the Milwaukee Bucks turned the ball over 21 times, after doing so just 26 times total in the first three games of the series. On a night where the Bucks were shooting poorly (37 percent overall, 23.8 percent from beyond the arc) they needed as many shots as they could get, and the turnovers were a shot in the foot.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was the chief offender, gift wrapping the ball for the other team seven times. It was part of his worst game of the series, as the team’s leading scorer mustered only 14 points on 6-of-19 shooting, his lowest total in the four games.

While Kidd could make a schematic change to try and limit turnovers, more likely the Bucks need to execute better. Smarter passes, quicker movements on offense to keep the Raptors on their heels, and more possessions ending in a shot. Limiting the turnovers will be a large step towards a Game 5 victory.