The Raptors’ b-team will take on the Milwaukee Bucks to end the regular season: preview, start time and more
Both teams will be missing key players as they hold off ahead of the Playoffs.
We’re here, the final game of the NBA regular season and the Toronto Raptors will take on the Milwaukee Bucks. It’ll actually be more like the Toronto Raptors bench vs the the Milwaukee Bucks bench. With this being the last day of the NBA regular season, and both of these teams preparing for the playoffs, there are already several players that have been ruled out for this game.
The Milwaukee Bucks will end the season as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and await the results of the Play-In tournament to determine who they will match up with in the first round.
As for the Raptors, they will have to win both their play-in games in order to make it to the playoffs where they will then face... the Milwaukee Bucks. Ha.
Don’t expect this to be any sort of preview for that. As previously mentioned, both teams will be sitting multiple players. For the Raptors, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and O.G. Anunoby have been listed as out.
For the Milwaukee Bucks, they have already ruled out Giannis Antetokuonmpo, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Jrue Holiday, Pat Connaughton, AJ Green, and Grayson Allen.
It’s hard to really preview this game when it’s really not going to be like a normal Raptors vs Bucks game. Usually when you think Bucks, you think Giannis. You think of Khris and Jrue and the core of this team. It’s the same for the Raptors, we would normally talk about how Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam would effect the game — yet neither of them are playing.
Here are the game details:
Match Up: Toronto Raptors (40-41) vs Milwaukee Bucks (58-23)
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Potential Lineups:
Toronto: Gary Trent Jr., Scottie Barnes, Precious Achiuwa, Jakob Poeltl, Will Barton
Milwaukee: Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Jae Crowder, Marjon Beauchamp, Lindell Wigginton, Meyers Leonard
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The Raptors are coming off one of the worst games in franchise history. They played the Boston Celtics twice in a row, and while the first game was closer and more competitive, the second game was not. The Celtics led dominantly from start to finish and the Raptors showed little to no fight.
In order to win this game tomorrow, the Raptors will have to show some of the fight that was missing on Friday’s game. With the lineup consisting of people who don’t normally get as many minutes, maybe they will show up and show out.
After tomorrow, the Raptors have already been locked in to playing the Chicago Bulls in the play-in tournament on Wednesday night. If they win, they will play the loser of the Atlanta vs Miami game to try and fight for a playoff spot.
With many roster decisions to be made in the coming months as we head into the off-season, maybe this game will be an opportunity for the younger talent to show what they are made of ahead of the offseason.
Whatever the case may be, don’t expect this to be a preview of a potential playoff series between these two games, and instead a bench-off between two teams looking to make it into the post season with their best players intact.