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It was pretty simple. Hard, but pretty simple.
To move up in the standings and get to .500 for the first time since early December, all the Raptors had to do Sunday night was finish off a home-road back-to-back with a road win over a rested opponent that owned the best record in the NBA and happened to have a full roster available.
And while they handled themselves well for most of the night, there were just too many things conspiring against them.
With Brook Lopez dominating the fourth quarter and Giannis Antetokounmpo enjoying an almost perfect night from the field, the Milwaukee Bucks ended Toronto’s three-game winning streak with a 118-111 victory in a delightful late-season outing.
The Raptors certainly did not go quietly against the 51-win Bucks and were in the game until the final minute.
Fred VanVleet had a 23-point, 11-assist double-double, Jakob Poeltl added 20 points and O.G. Anunoby had 22 as the Raptors stayed with the Bucks until the final minute. A 13-point, 12-rebound night was the third straight double-double for Pascal Siakam, but he was just 5-for-14 from the field.
Two free throws by Jrue Holiday gave the Bucks a seven-point lead with 20 seconds left and sealed the win for Milwaukee.
Lopez had the first eight points of the fourth quarter to erase a six-point Toronto lead and finished with 26 points. Antetokounmpo made all nine of his field-goal attempts and finished with a 22-point, 13-rebound, 10-assist triple-double to lead the Bucks.
The most troubling issue for the Raptors came seconds before halftime, when Scottie Barnes’s night ended.
Barnes suffered an injury to his left wrist. X-rays at the arena were negative, but he will be re-evaluated in Toronto on Monday. Barnes played just 13 first-half minutes with five points before his night was done.
The game took on some added significance for some Raptors fans after Atlanta blew a 24-point second-half lead and lost in San Antonio on Sunday afternoon, giving Toronto a chance to move into eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
The players were surely aware of what had transpired in Texas, and just as aware that there are still 10 games left in the season, more than enough time for scoreboard watching over the next three weeks.
“I think right now I’m just focused on playing good for our team. We kind of are who we are, so whatever that is — six through 10 (seed), or seven through 10,” VanVleet said before the Raptors left for Milwaukee.
“If we play good we’ll win, and if we win we’ll climb the standings. That’s just how it goes this time of year. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but I like where we’ve been at, and we’ve been pretty focused the last couple weeks. Got to keep that up.”
Their final extended homestand of the season begins Wednesday.
Unbeaten in seven straight at Scotiabank Arena, the Raptors will play their next three games against teams below them in the standings. Wins over Indiana, Detroit and Washington in one week could go a long way toward moving them up the standings.
The Raptors got 18 points and five three-pointers from Gary Trent Jr., who seems to be fully recovered from an illness that team officials said bothered him during a west coast road trip. And while he’s capable of filling in for Barnes in a starting role, Trent’s scoring ability keeps Toronto’s second-unit clicking.
“We need his offensive production,” coach Nick Nurse said. “It’s kind of his role on the team, is to keep the offence ticking over when some of the main guys are off the floor.
“Even on some of those nights he’s not (making shots), I’m always thinking, ‘What can we run to get him a clean look and maybe get him going?’ I think you’re trying to manage it all the time.”
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