The 28-year-old was playign the 90th playoff game of his career and looked right at home putting up 19 points and 14 rebounds in the game.
The Toronto Raptors, the number 3 seed in the East, are hoping to carry on the momentum the franchise is in and go on another long playoff run like last season, beginning with game 1 in their first round series with the Milwaukee Bucks.
That put him 14th in total scoring, 15th in rebounding, 18th in assists, fifth in blocks and ninth in steals. DeRozan finished with a team-high 27 points, while Lowry scored just four points, his lowest single-game output in a Raptors playoff game.
Toronto dropped to 0-9 in the opening game of a first-round playoff series and 1-10 overall in Game 1.
The Bucks do have something to take into the opener of the best-of-seven series at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday. The Raptors didn't have much of an answer for Milwaukee's ultra-physical play down low. Jonas Valanciunas wasn't dominanting, but he was mostly able to keep Monroe in check.
"I think they just outplayed us tonight and I didn't play well enough", Lowry said. "Hopefully next game we will". I have to play better. The Bucks scored eight straight points, including four from Khris Middleton, to make it 85-71 with 8:47 left. With the game tied in the first quarter, Antetokounmpo sized up Carroll in the corner, took three dribbles to the rim, and dunked over three Raptors players, setting the tone for the rest of the game. They got down 10 points in the first half like they always do and had a seven-point lead early in the third quarter.
Giannis didn't just produce on the offensive end, he made huge defensive plays too, as you can see from this fantastic block on Raptors star DeMar DeRozan. Lowry has shot under 33% in back-to-back first-round series, and he seems well on his way to repeating that type of performance against Milwaukee. The Raptors' only decent quarter was the second, when they outscored the Bucks 29-16. "Our second half was just abysmal", was Dwane Casey's blunt assessment. P.J. Tucker, though he did a great job, was ultimately too small.
This time a year ago the seventh-seeded Indiana Pacers came to Air Canada Centre, took note of the noise in the building, crowds lining up to get into Jurassic Park, the a cappella version of O Canada and spanked the Raptors easily. Milwaukee is ranked #20 in points per game and are #13 in offensive rating.
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Following the season-long script, they rallied with a big second quarter holding the Bucks to just 16 and taking a lead into the second half.
"He's totally different than anything else in our league", Casey said.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Toronto.
The Raptors, in typical Raptors fashion, melted in Game 1, at home, in front of their raucous crowd.
"On paper it all looks good when you make trades and bring in players. but now the second season starts". "I haven't thought anything about that".
The night's biggest moment arrived 30 seconds later when Antetokounmpo picked up his fourth foul, Bucks head coach Jason Kidd having no other choice than to summon his star to the bench. Bad starts in the playoffs are not a new thing for the Raptors, and those bad starts continued yesterday.
Ten of his first 11 field goals were layup or dunks, several of them when he ran off Raptors misses, turning a hard task - stopping him in transition - into a solving Rubik's Cube blindfolded level challenge.
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