DeMar DeRozan and defense save the Raptors again, as Toronto gets even with Game 4 win

So, as it turns out, when DeMar DeRozan plays well on offense and everybody else plays well on defense, the Toronto Raptors are a pretty tough team to beat.

It was Toronto’s recipe after the All-Star break, as the Raps rode their All-Star shooting guard and their newly tough-as-nails D in the absence of top point guard Kyle Lowry. And even with Lowry back in the fold, with their backs against the wall facing a potential 3-1 deficit to the young and hungry Milwaukee Bucks, they turned to that recipe again on Saturday to save their season. (For now, at least.)

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After a dreadful Game 3 loss in which he went without a field goal for the first time in more than two years, DeRozan bounced back in a big way, scoring a game-high 33 points in 40 minutes to carry the Raptors offense in a brutal, slow-paced, grind-it-out affair in which neither team could muster many made buckets or much separation until the closing minutes. Toronto shot just 41.3 percent from the field as a team, Milwaukee just 37 percent, and each team made only five 3-pointers, combining to shoot 10-for-43 from beyond the arc.

In the end, though, an ugly win is still a win, and the Raptors got the one they so desperately needed, beating Milwaukee 87-76 to tie this best-of-seven first-round series at two games apiece.

DeRozan got his first bucket on a midrange jumper with just over 8 1/2 minutes remaining in the first quarter and never looked back, going 12-for-22 from the field while also chipping in a team-high nine rebounds, five assists and four steals in the win. Lowry shook off his own Game 3 struggles and a slow start, scoring 14 points after halftime to finish with 18 on 8-for-17 shooting, with four rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block in a game-high 43 minutes.

Seeking a shake-up after a stagnant and dispiriting Game 3 in which Toronto seemed ill-equipped to compete with the Bucks’ length, athleticism and energy, head coach Dwane Casey downsized, moving center Jonas Valanciunas to the bench and slotting reserve wing Norman Powell into the starting five. The goal of the smaller-ball look was to get quicker defenders on the floor and take away the paint penetration that fueled so much of Milwaukee’s success in Game 3, forcing the Bucks to take outside shots rather than marching into the paint.

Outside of wing Tony Snell, who made all five of the Bucks’ 3-pointers en route to a team- and career-playoff-high 19 points, no Buck could consistently make Toronto pay for that strategy; Milwaukee shot just 12-for-39 (30.7 percent) outside the paint. Granted, the Raptors weren’t exactly lighting it up, either — Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd seemed perfectly content allowing Serge Ibaka and DeMarre Carroll to hoist pick-and-pop jumpers to the tune of a combined 5-for-22 mark (0-for-8 from deep) — but, on balance, the small-ball Raps seemed to be generating cleaner, better looks from the floor than they managed in Game 3, even if the score-line (19-all after one quarter, 41-all at halftime) didn’t tell that story at intermission.

Surprise starter Powell gave the Raptors a big boost, coming through with a big game after having slipped down Casey’s rotation late in the season. The second-year man out of UCLA — originally a second-round pick of the Bucks, who shipped him and a 2017 first-round pick to the Raptors for point guard Greivis Vasquez on the night of the 2015 NBA draft — scored 12 points on seven shots, making all three of his 3-point attempts, including a dagger from the left corner off a DeRozan drive-and-kick to put Toronto up 10 with four minutes remaining in the fourth:

After a sluggish start — although, to be fair, just about every player on both teams was guilty of that in a slog of a Saturday matinee affair that featured little flow and plenty of stalled possessions — Valanciunas responded well to the move, too. His minutes now pretty neatly matched with Bucks reserve destroyer Greg Monroe, the Lithuanian center acquitted himself well as a help defender and rim deterrent on one end, and as a finisher on the other, especially late in the game, as the Raptors fought to hold onto their slim advantage.

Valanciunas chipped in 12 points on perfect 5-for-5 shooting, with the Raptors outscoring the Bucks by 11 points in his 22 minutes off the pine. Powell also added four rebounds, four assists, one block and some tough, active defense on Bucks swingman Khris Middleton, who’d topped the 20-point mark in Games 2 and 3, but who scored just 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting.

Middleton, who played a major role in Milwaukee dominating the Raptors on both ends of the floor in Game 3, struggled mightily after the first quarter. While he added 11 rebounds and three assists, he seemed more disconnected than usual on defense and got flustered at times trying to make plays, committing four of the Bucks’ 20 turnovers. Milwaukee got outscored by 12 points in Middleton’s 36 1/2 minutes; Toronto was plus-15 in Powell’s 34.

The Bucks’ other headliner, do-everything All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, also failed to answer the call in a Saturday afternoon tilt in which the Bucks had a chance to take a commanding 3-1 advantage.

The “Greek Freak” authored highlight plays, like a first-quarter rejection of DeRozan …

… and a mammoth throwdown on the fast break in the second quarter, as Milwaukee started to come alive and looked to reach escape velocity:

But those eye-popping plays were too few and too far between in Game 4, and surrounded by too many tentative attacks, pulled-string jumpers and ineffective moves around the basket. Antetokounmpo finished with 14 points on 6-for-19 shooting, and while he added nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals in his team-high 42 minutes, he also committed a career-high-tying seven turnovers in a disappointing effort as the young Bucks — Gianis, Middleton, rookie Malcolm Brogdon (two points on four shots, three assists against four turnovers, routinely torched by Lowry and DeRozan in the second half) — squandered a chance to put their veteran opponents on the brink of disaster.

The Raptors haven’t exactly earned a lot of confidence in this series, getting run out of their gym in Game 1 and absolutely dismantled in Game 3 in Milwaukee. But after salvaging a split in Wisconsin, they once again have home-court advantage, and will head back to Toronto for Monday’s Game 5 with a chance to draw within one win of Round 2.

Bucks fans, however, don’t see it playing out that way:

The playoffs are awesome, man.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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