Last-Minute News, Rumours, Reports before Toronto Raptors vs Milwaukee Bucks Game

The Toronto Raptors are in a very rough spot right now, but at halftime against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, the Raptors were up 67 to 64 out there on the road against Nikola Jokic and without Kawhi Leonard. It was a great half. They had 20 assists on 26 made shots. They were 9 of 19 from the three point line and Scottie Barnes already had 13 points and three steals. But then the third quarter happened and Denver won it 41 to 15. The Raptors made 5 of their 23 shots in the quarter. They went 1 for 9 from 3, they turned it over 6 times, and Denver shot 68% the other way. That three-point lead turned into a 23-point hole in just 12 minutes of action. And that basically sums up the whole Toronto Raptors season right now. For moments, they look like a real contender. They look like an upper-tier playoff team. And then other moments, things are completely falling apart. Josh Bloomberg put it perfectly. One great quarter was enough to beat the Los Angeles Clippers, and one horrendous quarter was enough to lose to Denver. And next, they are going to Milwaukee facing off against the worst team in the Eastern Conference, which feels like it's coming at the perfect time, an easy chance to get back on track, get back into rhythm and, you know, beat up on a team that has been struggling as of late. But just as it feels like we're going to get a tune-up game, we just got some news that has Raptors fans concerned even about this game that's happening tonight. So let's break down what's actually happening heading into this Milwaukee Bucks game as we have new news out there on Scottie Barnes and his availability. Scotty's officially been listed as questionable for tonight's game with a left adductor and groin soreness. That's the official injury report from Thursday night. This isn't the first time Scottie's been reportedly playing through an injury. He was questionable with a sore left hip in the Clippers game on Monday but played through it anyways and looked like he aggravated it again in the third quarter. Here's what he said after that win. He said it was a terrible game for him for 29 minutes and he couldn't really move that well and he was just trying to fight it. And he still found a way. And again, we needed that win against the Los Angeles Clippers. So I'm glad that he did that. But we are currently in early November right now. And this team has a squad that has championship aspirations. Bringing in Kawhi Leonard this summer might sound crazy, given how the last few games have played out. But that's where the Toronto Raptors are pointed. That's where they're headed with all of the moves they've made as of late. And having your top guy, you know, Scottie Barnes, the man that the front office, the coaching staff has. Designated as your number one option, having him have to play through injuries right now and being questionable a night where he probably should be resting against the Milwaukee Bucks who have been struggling themselves just is a testament to honestly how dire of a situation the Raptors are in right now. Because again, you watch these games and you see why the Raptors need Scottie Barnes on the court. Since Kawhi Leonard went down, Scottie's been playing 34 minutes a game and scoring 22.8 points a night. He's also averaging 6.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists in those games. He's the point guard, the power forward, their best defender, all in one guy. And in the Denver game, you could see it all catching up with him. He had five turnovers, and the Raptors were minus 23 in his 32 minutes. And even Jokic noticed. After the game, he said that you need to give credit to Scottie Barnes. He's an unusual player. One possession, he's pressing the point guard, and the next, he's guarding the big man. And of course, we look ahead to this Milwaukee Bucks game tonight, and Scottie Barnes has been very good up against the Bucks in seasons past. Not phenomenal, but 20.7 points per game in the seven career games he's faced off against Milwaukee. But regardless, he is a player that, without Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors are not able to replace his production. Jakob Poeltl is probably back in the starting lineup, hopefully he's healthy, and then you have to choose from Allen Graves, Jameson Battle, Colin Murray-Boyles to get more minutes. And Pirtle is officially back from his shoulder injury, he played against Denver, we'll see if he's resting, see how it holds up after his one game return. I've heard, but... Scotty Barnes is a much different name out there on the injury report, similar to Kawhi Leonard than a lot of the other guys out there on this team. But realistically, I get people saying you got to play through injury because you got to be tough. You got to do all this. And Scottie's been trying to tough it out. But if you're going to deal with a nagging injury this early on into the season and face off against a Milwaukee Bucks team, that's sure, you definitely need this win. It's a tough call for the coaching staff because you don't want to aggravate an injury, especially against a team that you should be able to beat without him. But if you sit Scottie Barnes and you lose a game like this, that is just recipe for more downward momentum for this Raptors squad. And if we're being 100% honest here, the Raptors have to win this game based off of what is coming up next. The Raptors right now are 4-4 on the season, they're 2-4 since Kawhi Leonard hurt his knee, and they're 1-2 on this road trip. And the gap's been huge. With Kawhi Leonard in their first two games, they scored 123 points a night and gave up 97. But without him, they're scoring 116 points per game and giving up 119. Obviously, Kawhi's only played two games, so you can only read so much into it. But the sample size is getting bigger for games without Kawhi, and right now, this team is a losing team without him. And Lewenberg pointed out something very interesting this week, taking a look at the the teams the Raptors have actually beaten. The Raptors' wins have come against the Chicago Bulls, the Washington Wizards, the Orlando Magic, and the LA Clippers. It was a win, but it felt like it was barely a win. And they still have to prove that they have to beat good teams, that they can beat good teams. And if you look at their schedule for the next two weeks, they are going to be put to the test. After Milwaukee, they face off against the Memphis Grizzlies, who are 6-2, the Boston Celtics, who are 6-2, the Philadelphia 76ers, who are 8-1 and lead the Eastern Conference. And then it's the NBA champion Knicks And as of the latest reporting, Kawhi Leonard is not walking through those doors, at least this week, and the team said on Tuesday that he's finished his treatment in terms of his knee swelling, and he's starting his return to play process, and there will be an update in a week. And that's why Friday matters so much. If you win it, the trip ends 2-2, if you lose it, you end up 1-3, and you are a team that's under .500, with the best teams in the East coming to town. So it's weird to say for a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, but there's a lot of pressure heading into this one. If you watch the Milwaukee Bucks this season, they are not the team that you probably remembered over the past few years. Obviously, the biggest difference being Giannis Antetokounmpo is gone. The Milwaukee Bucks traded him to the Miami Heat in the summer, which is kind of weird to say. You know, we've been talking for 13 years about the Milwaukee Bucks having Giannis, potential trades, all these different things, but he is no longer with the Bucks. He is gone. And they got back a solid package. They have Tyler Herro, Kel'an Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Gygy Jokic. They have a lot of pieces, plus three first-round picks. They also have a new coaching staff after Doc Rivers ended up stepping down from the team as the team missed the playoffs last year, and they brought in Taylor Jenkins as their new head coach. And with all due respect to that team, rebuilding after the Giannis trade, they've had a disastrous start to the year. They're 1-7, they've lost four straight, and the AP says this is their worst start through eight games since the 93-94 season. So they have these four losses in a row, and every single one of them is pushing them further down. They had a big lead against Boston. They were up by 22 against them and ended up losing that game by seven. And Tyler Hero had a big game that night. He scored 25 and 17 of them came in the third quarter. Tyler Hero is their guy right now. He's averaging 22.2 points a game. And Ware is putting up 13 points and 8.7 rebounds. So this isn't a team that's completely sorry or overtly tanking or anything like that. Tyler Hero still can get hot for any single quarter. He's a former all-star. He's a guy that we've seen kill the Toronto Raptors out there in the past. And we just watched that, you know, one bad quarter for the Toronto Raptors against the Nuggets was enough to lose that game. Now, the Raptors have won their last three matchups against the Milwaukee Bucks, but all three of them came with Giannis on the other side and Scottie on ours. Now, of course, Giannis has gone from their team. We'll see if Scottie ends up suiting up out here on Friday. It's different teams, different matchups. But nonetheless, this game screams like a trap game. The Raptors are on the road. They've been struggling. The momentum feels like it's slowed down a little bit for this team. One and seven. Like, it feels like a type of game the Raptors would come and try to waltz their way into Tyler Harrow, one of these randoms out there on the Bucks, ends up having a big game. So there's a very good chance this game comes down to the names that are on the roster that don't include Scottie Barnes or Kawhi Leonard. So specifically four players are really going to have to step up in this game, and we'll see who we're going to be controlling with on this Raptors squad right now. The first guy is, of course, RJ Barrett, who has been fantastic this season. Since Kawhi went down, he's averaging 20.7 points a game. He's led the team with 22 points in Denver. When Scottie and Kawhi are sitting, RJ Barrett is this team's first option. And of course, night in, night out, that doesn't scream like a recipe for success, but against the Milwaukee Bucks, I have full faith that RJ Barrett can step up and be the top scorer for our team on this night. The next guy, of course, is Emmanuel Quickly. Against Denver, he was rough. He went 2 for 8 from behind the three-point line, and the Raptors were minus 29 with him on the court. However, Quigley has some history of success against the Milwaukee Bucks. Last season when they played out there in Milwaukee, he had 32 points and 9 assists. And for as frustrating as some of his possessions can certainly be, he's actually been pretty solid for this team since Kawhi's went down. 17.3 points per game and 5.5 assists a night. Just has to be that guy on Friday and be consistent and just knock down his 3-point shots because those averages aren't bad, but you get a really good Emmanuel Quigley game and then a really rough one. We need one of those good ones tonight against the Bucks. Next guy we're talking about is Jacoby Walter as his minutes have jumped from 23.5 a game to 31 without Kawhi Leonard on the court and his scoring went from 8.5 to 12.3. That's starter minutes on a team that is trying to be competitive right now. Darko's given this added responsibility and especially in a game if Scottie Barnes is not playing he's going to prove to Raptors fans the coaching staff how good he is with added you know scoring role scoring importance out there in this lineup Now, in the Raptors' last game, he went 1-for-6 from 3 against Denver, and with this many minutes, we're going to need those shots to fall. At number 4, the guy I probably expect to start if Scottie Barnes is out, and that is Colin Murray-Boyles. He was one of the few guys that played well in Denver. He had 13 points, 6-10 shooting, and as the season's gone along, I've seen Colin Murray-Boyles get more and more comfortable out there on the court. Regardless of if he's starting or not, if Scottie Barnes goes down, a lot of those minutes are going to CMB. Given the fact the Bucks have Kahlil Ware as well as Myles Turner, they're going to need some strength down low to attack the rim against a couple of shot blockers and guys that are solid rebounders. I mean, Myles Turner is big. Solid rebounder might be a stretch, but I digress. The Bucks have had problems on the glass this year, so if CMB and Pirtle are out there on the boards, that could lead to a lot of extra shots for the Toronto Raptors. Also, I want to throw a little reminder, if you're enjoying all of the daily Toronto Raptors coverage and these pregames we're doing this season, make sure you guys hit that subscribe button. It means the absolute world to me. We're currently at 45,167 subscribers, so if we can get to 46,000 by Christmas, that would be absolutely insane. We're taking a look at how this game is going to go. The Raptors... If you have any belief in this Raptors roster whatsoever, this has to be a game that you're picking as it's almost a must win for Toronto right now. Like again, on the Bucks side, they're a team that's desperate to stop their losing streak themselves. The Raptors are on the road. There's reasons why this game could certainly go wrong for the Raptors. As I mentioned, this does feel like a legitimate trap game for the Raptors. But if the Raptors punch in the first quarter and they don't absolutely collapse in any of these quarters like they did in the third against the Denver Nuggets. They should be in good shape. And even though it feels like things are getting desperate right now for the Toronto Raptors, they've been really good this season and last year against bad teams. They beat up on the bottom feeders in the NBA. They need to get better at beating good teams across the NBA, but they've been good at beating these lower tier teams. So I'm confident they're able to get this W against the Bucks. But if they don't, There's going to be a lot of things, a lot of questions being raised to this roster, to this team, to Darko, to all that stuff. It's going to be on the horizon for this weekend. But regardless, we will be here to cover it all. But let me know in the comment section, who do you think is going to lead the Raptors in scoring? RJ Barrett, Emmanuel Quigley, or someone else? Let me know in the comment section down below. If you want an update on the Raptors' most recent signing, check out this video right here.