Nearly 300 days ago, the Milwaukee Bucks watched their dream season end in Toronto.
Last night, they made their long-awaited return to the Scotiabank Arena, where their hearts broke and their offseason began last May.
The atmosphere was similar to the playoff feel that was present last May.
However, this time the result was different.
Coming off of an overtime victory the night before in Washington D.C., the Bucks found themselves in a battle of title contenders on short rest, arguably one of their biggest challenges of the season thus far.
Toronto owned a majority of the first half. The Raptors shot 11-26 from downtown through the first 21 minutes and held a 51-38 lead over Milwaukee.
Then, the Bucks came to life.
Milwaukee closed the half on an 11-1 run to get their backs off the wall.
With the pressure off, they took over in the second half, controlling the game for the remaining 24 minutes. The Bucks outscored the Raptors 58-45 throughout that duration, helping lift them over the red-hot defending champions.
Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo lead the way for Milwaukee. Middleton finished with 22 points and eight rebounds. Antetokounmpo scored 19 with eight assists and 19 rebounds, including a huge three-pointer with just under two minutes remaining to put his squad up 10 and cool off the Raptors’ momentum.
As the final buzzer sounded, the Bucks sealed an intense 108-97 victory. The win improved Milwaukee to 50-8 and they became the first team in the NBA to reach the 50 win mark this season.
Milwaukee now holds an eight game lead over the second-place Raptors for the best record in the Eastern Conference. The rivals will meet two more times this regular season in a home-and-home two game battle on April 1 and April 3.