Raptors at Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are returning to the states after a successful trip to London and will host the struggling Toronto Raptors on Monday. The Bucks crushed the New York Knicks in front of the foreign crowd and will try to turn the same trick against the Raptors, who are losers of two straight and seven of nine. Toronto had little trouble the first time the teams met, handing Milwaukee its largest loss of the season 124-82 at home on Nov. 21.
DeMar DeRozan (groin) is averaging 22.3 points in three games since returning from a 21-game absence but has not been able to drag the Raptors into the win column in either of the last two contests. Toronto held a 12-point lead midway through the fourth quarter at home against New Orleans on Sunday but ended up falling 95-93 when Tyreke Evans hit a layup with 1.6 seconds left and DeRozan’s last-second attempt missed the mark. DeRozan is playing his first back-to-back since returning while the Bucks will be shaking off the rust after playing one game in the last eight days.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, SportsNet 360 (Toronto), FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (26-14): Toronto finished up a six-game homestand with a 2-4 mark and will complete the month with six of eight on the road. Kyle Lowry’s production has dipped with DeRozan’s return, and the standout point guard slumped to eight points, five assists and four turnovers on Sunday, failing to score in double figures for the first time since Dec. 12. “We’re playing in mud right now,” Toronto’s coach Dwane Casey told reporters. “Confidence-wise we’ve got to come out believing we’re going to make a play offensively or defensively.”
ABOUT THE BUCKS (21-19): Milwaukee has not played since Thursday but got its fair share of bad news during the layoff as it was revealed that backup point guard Kendall Marshall will miss the rest of the season with a torn right ACL suffered in London. Marshall is the second Bucks player this season to be lost with that same injury after rookie Jabari Parker went down in December. “It’s next guy up,” coach Jason Kidd told the reporters. “We’ll play the 11 that we have and we’ll go from there. We’ll figure it out. There are some guys who will have to play some more minutes, which they’re probably excited about.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bucks C Larry Sanders will miss at least 10 more games after being suspended by the NBA for drug use.
2. Toronto has taken five straight in the series by an average of 17 points.
3. Milwaukee G O.J. Mayo is 10-of-13 from 3-point range over the last three games.