STORIES FROM THE FIELD
Raptors score 70-47 after the break to beat Milwaukee 121-107 in the NBA Cup
Alijah Martin scored a career-high 27 points and RJ Barrett added 27 as the short-handed Raptors beat the Bucks 121-107 in an NBA Cup game in Milwaukee.
This image is an AI-generated illustration rather than matchday photography
The Raptors trailed by 15 points in the first half and were missing Kawhi Leonard, Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley, then scored 70 points after the break to win 121-107 in Milwaukee and move to 5-4 on the season.
Six of seven from the arc
Twenty-seven points was more than Martin had scored in his entire season until Friday: 23 points across seven games before this one.
Martin is a 2025 second-round pick out of Florida who had entered Friday having made 6 of 27 three-point attempts across his career to that point.
Toronto's first lead of the game arrived on Martin's three-pointer that made it 71-69 with 5:41 left in the third quarter.
Jamal Shead set a career high with 16 assists alongside 10 points and a plus-23, and Collin Murray-Boyles added 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
Jakob Poeltl matched those 19 points with 11 rebounds and six of them on the offensive glass, plus three steals in 31 minutes.
A 10-2 run that lasted four minutes
Tyler Herro finished with 23 points and 10 assists but was 1 of 5 from three until the attempt that put Milwaukee back in front 22 seconds after Martin's three had given Toronto their first lead.
That three started a 10-2 run and a 79-73 advantage, and Toronto answered with the next nine points to take the lead for good on Allen Graves' three-point play with 2:17 left in the third.
The Bucks are 1-8, the slowest start in the franchise's history since the 1993-94 team that lost 10 of its first 11 games and went on to finish 20-62.
Rookie Brayden Burries set career highs with 21 points and 11 rebounds, five of them offensive, and Myles Turner scored no points in 24 minutes on 0 of 7 from the floor.
Toronto's defence produced 12 steals and 27 points off Milwaukee's 21 turnovers, and the Raptors converted 24 of 31 free throws in the game.
What the two records now say
Toronto moved to 1-1 in NBA Cup group play and 5-4 overall; Milwaukee fell to 0-1 in the Cup and 1-8 in the league, part of an East Group A that also holds Detroit, Orlando and Brooklyn.
Toronto's rotation absorbed the absences by giving 31 minutes to Martin and 16 to Graves, and the team still shot 47 per cent from the floor.
The Raptors were playing without a seven-time all-NBA selection in Leonard, a two-time All-Star in Barnes and their starting guard Quickley, with Leonard missing a seventh consecutive game.
RJ Barrett carried the other half of the scoring with 27 points on nine of 21 and nine of 11 from the line, plus seven rebounds and five assists in 37 minutes.
Monday brings Memphis to Toronto; Sunday brings Boston to Milwaukee, where the record book has started to look relevant.
Editor's take: A 1-8 start puts every detail under a microscope, and Turner's 0-of-7 night in 24 minutes is exactly the kind of line that gets examined twice.
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