The Sports Xchange
Apr 15, 2017
TORONTO -- Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 97-83 victory over the Toronto Raptors in the opener of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series on Saturday.
Toronto dropped to 0-9 in the opening game of a first-round playoff series and 1-10 overall in Game 1.
Malcolm Brogdon added 16 points for the Bucks, Greg Monroe had 14 points and 15 rebounds, Tony Snell and Matthew Dellavedova added 11 points each, and Khris Middleton chipped in with 10 points and nine assists.
DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Serge Ibaka added 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Jonas Valanciunas had nine points and nine rebounds.
The Bucks took a five-point lead into the fourth quarter and stretched it to 14 after four minutes.
When Antetokounmpo made a jumper with 2:38 to play, Milwaukee led by 17 points.
Middleton's driving dunk with 1:17 to play closed out the scoring in the first quarter and gave Milwaukee a 30-22 lead.
Ibaka led all scorers with 10 first-quarter points. Antetokounmpo scored seven points for Milwaukee.
Antetokounmpo made a layup to open the second-quarter scoring and Milwaukee led by 10.
The Raptors chipped away and took a one-point lead on two free throws by DeRozan with 7:06 left in the first half.
The Raptors led 51-46 at the intermission. DeRozan had 18 points and Ibaka had 14. Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with 15 points.
After Toronto took a seven-point lead on two free throws by Valanciunas, the Bucks tied the score on Snell's 3-pointer with 9:24 left in the third quarter.
Brogdon's 3-pointer gave Milwaukee the lead with 8:16 left in the quarter. Middleton finished the third-quarter scoring with two free throws and Milwaukee led 75-70.
Monroe's layup opened the fourth quarter to give Milwaukee a seven-point lead. Middleton's fadeaway jumper made it a 10-point lead with 9:33 to play. Middleton bumped the lead to 14 with a floating jumper.
NOTES: Toronto has won 13 of the past 15 regular-season meetings with Milwaukee. The Bucks beat the Raptors on March 4 to end a seven-game losing streak against Toronto. ... The teams had never met in the playoffs before this series. ... Raptors F P.J. Tucker made his playoff debut. He has appeared in 418 regular-season games. Bucks F/C Greg Monroe also made his playoff debut after playing 538 regular-season games. ... Raptors F Serge Ibaka appeared in his 90th playoff game Saturday. ... The second game of the best-of-seven series will be played Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre.