Dwane Casey gets milestone victory, Raptors stay unscathed and keep Bucks winless

The Raptors will be tested in their next four outings, all on the road, when they face the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic and Miami Heat.

He’s not an easy player to value properly. The Bucks have a long, athletic team that has vast potential. The fact that Giannis was on the bench watching while the Bucks let the game slip away in the fourth. Milwaukee, meanwhile, is winless in three.

Injuries had been a major factor in the Bucks’ lackluster start to the season and the absences of John Henson, Jabari Parker, and OJ Mayo were certainly made evident as Toronto quickly took hold of the game and kept their foot on the gas all throughout the night as they took the game 106-87.

With the win, Casey became the winningest coach in Raptors history (passing Sam Mitchell). “And that’s a huge question with him”. Should the Raptors offer to extend? All kinds of teams will have loads of money to spend and Ross could be the beneficiary.

Ross finally awoke early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s contest with a trio of corner threes that helped blunt a brief Milwaukee surge.

“I think we just went out there tonight and played our game”, Lowry said. Is that the start of something?

Is it the key to unlocking the best version of Ross more often?

Looking around the league, players that fit that profile are hard to find and expensive when get identified.

Coming into this season, Kyle Lowry lost significant weight and has looked awesome so far. Only eight players topped those thresholds last season and they are a few of the most lethal perimeter weapons in the National Basketball Association.

Talks between the Raptors and Ross’ representatives have been ongoing leading up to Monday’s deadline, according to a source, and the team would be open to giving him an extension, if the price is to their liking.

Ross, who had been quiet for Toronto earlier in the game, showed he’s finding his groove as a part of Toronto’s bench after two inconsistent seasons as a starter. The Raptors might simply be getting ahead of the curve.

“DeMar DeRozan has been here through the whole number of wins”, Casey said. Although he wouldn’t use it as an excuse, Ross’ ankle injury was worse than most people realize and bothered him throughout last season.

After making only 11 of his first 24 field-goal attempts in his first two games of the season, and leaning on free throw opportunities for his points, DeRozan made his first five shots from the field on Sunday.

“I feel comfortable in the role, it helps me relax and see what I need to do”.

“It’s definitely great. I’m happy for him”. This was also the first time Greivis Vasquez returned to the ACC after being traded on draft day from Toronto for the rights to Norman Powell and a protected first round pick in 2017. Greg Monroe had his way in the paint as he recorded 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field. “We started 30th in the league in defense, (we’ve done) a lot of building, and we’re still building”. “You have to have a great amount of confidence in yourself and what you can do”. “Whether it’s here or somewhere else, he’ll get what he wants, he’s just got to stay professional and understand where he’s at”. In the second quarter of that game he passed up a three on the elbow for a better shot closer to the rim, one he knocked down.

Khris Middleton is fresh off a max contract and averaging nearly as many points (14.5) as millions paid (15).

“We started, as Drake says, at the bottom”.