Brooks taking a foul shot in summer league to highlight that the Toronto Raptors waive Armoni Brooks.

Raptors Defeat Bucks 80 to 69 in Final Summer League Game

The Toronto Raptors defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 80 to 69 in their final game to finish summer league with a 4 and 1 record. With most of the regulars sitting out this last game, Abu Kigab led all scorers with 15 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal. It was a chance to see how other players performed in NBA action. Here are my pros and cons from the final game, my analysis of went right and wrong for the Raps.

Raptors Defeat Bucks – Pros

Abu Kigab Showed Out – I only saw a few highlights from his time from Boise State but the forward from St. Catherines Ontario played pretty well. In his post game interview he said if he focuses on rebounding and defending that the points will come. He did just that and had himself a nice game. He played hard and was a factor on both sides of the court. Solid game from him and hopefully for him, the Raptors or some other team might want to have a further look at him.

Christian Koloko’s Excellent Half – Koloko only played the 1st half of the game but what a half! He had 11 points, 4 rebounds on 50 percent shooting. He even had a nice three pointer from the top of the key. His offense is still a work in progress but there are flashes of good 3-point shooting and that is pretty exciting. His defense is excellent. He blocks and alters shots and also make players driving into the paint hesitate or change their mind altogether. It has been fun to watch him and I look forward to seeing further growth in pre-season and beyond.

Christian Vital Had an Alright Game – He did not shoot that well but he did have 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and was a plus 21 for the game. He only had one turnover which was also a plus.

Raptors Defeat Bucks – Cons

Woeful Shooting All Around – The Raptors as a team shot 37.5 percent from the field and shot just under 21 percent from three and the Bucks did not shoot much better. As a result, the game was hard to watch at times as it was a brick fest.

Kurucs Finishes with a Dud – I was hoping for Kurucs to really assert himself and have a good game to finish off summer league. However, this was his worst performance of summer league and ended up with zero points. Ouch! This performance might have really hurt his chances in getting a training camp invite from the Raptors.

Flavor Flav Interview was so Distracting – Yes it was quite interesting to have Flavor Flav of Public Enemy to talk to. However, to talk to him for the almost the whole 3rd quarter was so distracting. I know that the game wasn’t the greatest. But you could tell that the commentators had totally lost interest in the game and just wanted to talk to Flavor Flav. But you have to still discuss the game and Flavor added little to no actual basketball insight. I was so relieved when the third quarter ended and the interview was over. I actually felt bad for him as he was here to support MarJon Beauchamp who was the 1st round draft pick of the Bucks. Beauchamp definitely wasn’t very good as he only had 7 points on 1 for 5 shooting and I barely noticed him out there. However, Flavor Flav was raving about his rapping ability, so there’s that. Alternative career option?

Conclusion

The Raptors played good defense for most of the game except for a stretch during the 4th quarter where they took their foot off the gas a bit. However, Toronto called a timeout and righted the ship and cruised in for the win. The Raptors finished summer league with a 4 and 1 record which is pretty impressive. The players and coaching staff are to be commended for their ability to gel so quickly and play as a team. It will be interesting who the Raptors give training camp invites to and who might have earned an actual contract. Will it be some of these players who played in summer league? Perhaps, but let’s just wait and see.

You Also Might Like:


This page has affiliate ads in which we might make a small commission at no extra cost to you!