The Bratwurst – Milwaukee Bucks Blog

Four minutes and 55 seconds. That’s all it took for the Raptors to turn a 6 point game into a 25 point margin.

The Raptors even did it without a single three point shot or three point play.

Toronto shot 6-8 from the floor and 7-8 from the line.

The Bucks only were able to hoist two shots and get a third one blocked in that 5 minutes of action. They also drew one foul (missing both free throws). The Bucks did manage to commit six fouls and four turnovers, though.

Think about that — the Raptors only made two more baskets than you would expect them to make in eight shots and they didn’t make any big (3 point) plays. They went on a 19-0 run without doing anything particularly special!

I suppose I could ream Krystkowiak for some coaching errors, but what is he supposed to do? He calls timeout after three Toronto baskets (about the right amount of time to wait), inserts Ivey and Voskuhl (which I’m not going to complain about — it’s better than not doing anything) and those two immediately commit an offensive foul and a shooting foul. Allowing your opponents to go on a run like that is on the whole team, not just the coach.

It’s easy to start throwing around “heartless” and “gutless” adjectives after events like this, but it’s important to remember that the Bucks were playing their fourth game in five nights. A bad stretch of play isn’t worth insinuating that something is lacking in one’s personality.

But stretches like this — which are becoming increasingly common in the third quarters of games, like this one, and this one from the past week, are a symptom of a greater problem. Coaching is part of it, yes, but flagging effort from players who know that the season is lost is another. But why would that effort be flagging? Tuning out the coaches, maybe?

It doesn’t surprise me that this game wasn’t close. The Bucks have had problems competing on the road against good teams all year, so why would tonight be any different? I wrote in a preview of this game for a Raptors blog that I would have been surprised if the Raptors didn’t win by double digits.

But ask yourself: Is this team really so bad that they should routinely be 20-40 points worse than their opposition?

The answer is: No.

And that is an issue that starts with the coaching strategies. Not tonight, but all season. A series of games with competitive first halves and third quarter collapses? That looks to me like a team that is willing to play hard until they run into a little adversity. That’s a team that has quit on its coach.

And meanwhile, the Timberwolves (with a 7-35 record) lost by one at Boston tonight. Just saying.