Head Coach Scott Skiles

On the win…
“We executed well again tonight; we had a ton of open looks. The difference between the second half and the first half is we finally converted a bit in the break in the second half. We had several chances in the first half to kind of pull away a little bit, and we just a little loose with the ball in the break. Once we shored that up, as I said, the guys executed well again, they ran the offense well, they got good open looks, couldn’t complain about that at all.”

On the defense tonight …
“It was better tonight, for sure. Did a nice job on (Andrea) Bargnani; I thought Ers (Ersan Illyasova) and  Luc (Mbah a Moute) both did a nice job on him. We didn’t do as well on (Jose) Calderon as we would like, but he missed shots.”

Center Andrew Bogut

On the win, in light of Saturday night’s loss…
“I think our defense was the key. We kept them at 36 percent from the field; they didn’t hit a three on us, didn’t get to the line too much. So, you know, we could afford to struggle offensively at times; we tried to make a concerted effort tonight on defense.”

On whether rebounding was focus coming into tonight’s game …
“It was, I mean the first half, they were really kicking our butts on the boards; there were a lot of long rebounds. We kind of evened it out in the second half. When they miss one in three shots, there are going to be a lot of rebounds to be had, and we had 50 tonight.”

Guard John Salmons

On the win…
“We feel like, if we’re going to make a push for the playoffs, we have to start it now. We have to take care of these home games, winning games you’re supposed to, and try to sneak some in the games people don’t think we can win.”

On focus moving forward …
“It’s always one game at a time, regardless if you’re a great team, or the worst team; it’s always one game at a time. I think our last few games, our defense has been kind of down, so we just focused on that tonight. And continue to try to improve on offense. Majority of the year, our defense has been good, so if we can get that back to where it was and start making some shots, we’ll be alright.”

On whether there was a  feeling of urgency during practice following Saturday’s loss …
“I think there’s definitely a sense of urgency; I think we feel like we definitely have to make a push now. We can’t wait any longer. Hopefully we can get on a little roll, try to win some games and make it to the playoffs.”

• Andrew Bogut recorded three blocks in the first quarter of tonight’s game and finished with five blocks reaching 21 straight games with a block. Entering tonight’s game, Bogut was leading the league with 2.8 blocks per game.
  
  
• With tonight’s loss the Raptors have now lost 10 straight games on the road and fall to 5-23 on the road this season.
  
  
• Tonight’s win snaps a four game losing streak for the Bucks.
  
  
• The Bucks went on an 11-3 run to take a 24-17 lead after the first quarter, shooting 55.0 percent (11-20) from the field led by Brandon Jennings’ eight points. DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with eight points. The Raptors shot 8-25 (32.0 percent) in the opening quarter.
  
  
• Milwaukee led Toronto 40-38 at the end of the first half with both teams each shooting 0-6 from outside.  Andrew Bogut led the Bucks with 10 points on 5-6 (83.3 percent) and DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with 12 points on 6-7 (85.7 percent) from the field.
  
  
• The Raptors fall to 1-11 on the front-end of back-to-back matches. Toronto will travel back home to face San Antonio tomorrow.
  
  
• The Bucks started the third quarter on a 15-6 run and finished the third with a 66-58 lead. Corey Maggette had eight points and six rebounds in the quarter for Milwaukee and Andrea Bargnani totaled 10 points in the third for Toronto.
  
  
• The Raptors shot 31-86 (36.0 percent) from the field tonight. With the loss Toronto falls to 0-6 when shooting below 40 percent. The Raptors were held to 74 points total dropping them to 3-23 when scoring under 100 points. The 74 points is two points shy (72) of the season low for both Toronto and Bucks opponents.
  
  
• John Salmons notched the first 3-point basket of the night in the fourth quarter. Both teams combined for 2-23 from outside, both baskets coming from the Bucks.
  
  
• Luc Mbah a Moute recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
  
  
• Five Bucks players scored in double figures in tonight’s game (John Salmons, 17; Corey Maggette, 16; Andrew Bogut, 14; Brandon Jennings, 12; and Luc Mbah a Moute, 10).

1-2-3-4 – Tell me that Amherst, Nova Scotia’s Feist is working on a follow-up that centres on #5 and Corey Maggette’s play in starting the last 12 games – we’re sure Apple would pick that one up for a commercial as well! In those 12 games Maggette has been one of the favoured options on offense as he leads the club with 18.6 points while shooting 50.3 percent from the floor. Colour us impressed that he has been in double-figures in 11 of those games and has topped 20 points in seven of those tilts. In addition to his scoring, Maggette has added 4.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists in that stretch.

DEFENCE GRANT FUHR WOULD BE PROUD OF – Grant Fuhr loved preventing scores as much as anyone, so he’d be happy that the Bucks are fourth in the league in points allowed (93.1) and ninth in opponents shooting percentage (44.9). The Bucks have held 37 foes under 100 points (tied for second in the NBA and 15 opponents have been held to 89 points or less). In all of 2009-10 Milwaukee held 47 foes under 100 and 28 under 90. Their points allowed was 96.0 (seventh) and opponents field goal percentage 45.1 (10th).

ONE MONTH AWAY! – We all know that Avril Lavigne’s latest album is set for a March 8 release in the U.S. To take your mind off the wait for Avril’s new material, we thought you might want to know that Ersan Ilyasova has celebrated the release of Lavigne’s latest single by averaging 12.4 points on 49.7 percent shooting (73-147) starting with the team’s game against San Antonio on January 12 (the single was released on January 11). Ilyasova is third on the team in scoring through that stretch while also chipping in with 6.8 rebounds (second on team) and 1.3 steals (second) in 28.0 minutes. Prior to the release of the new single, Ilyasova was averaging 8.8 points and 6.0 rebounds on 40.4 percent shooting.

NOT QUITE THE SAME AS MIKHAIL GRABOVSKI – The Bucks have averaged 2.0 less turnovers (12.8-14.8, 64-74) over the last five games, being 2.0 better than their foes while Mikhail Grabovski has led the Leafs with a +4 +/- through his 51 games this season – although we think Nikolai Kulemin (+2) will give him a run for the +/- lead. Either way, here’s hoping they have a big comeback in them to get to the postseason! Looking at more +/- type numbers relating to those turnovers for the Bucks, they’re +4.6 in steals (9.0-4.4, 45-22) over the last five and are +3.6 in points off turnovers (16.6-13.0, 83-65) in that stretch. Carlos Delfino (1.8) and Keyon Dooling (1.8) have topped the club in steals in that span.

• As we all celebrate Dino Ciccarelli’s 51st birthday on Tuesday, we’re sure the rugged right winger would appreciate that Andrew Bogut has blocked at least one shot in his last 20 games, the fifth longest streak of it’s kind this season. Bogut leads the league with 2.8 blocks per game.
  
  
• The Weight: As The Band said, “Take a load off” Andy – because Andrew Bogut has taken a rebounding load off his teammates by grabbing 22.7 percent of Milwaukee’s boards. Bogut is also seventh in the NBA by grabbing 18.8 percent of the available rebounds when he’s in the game.
  
  
• Centre Honours: He won’t receive a prise for these achievements, but on Saturday Andrew Bogut passed Sidney Moncrief (who had 3,447 boards) for sixth place in team history in rebounds and also passed Quinn Buckner (4,738) for 18th in points. Bogut (562) is 25 blocks away from passing Ervin Johnson for third in team history in blocks.
  
  
• Year One: No, not Michael Cera’s comedy Year One, Bucks forward Larry Sanders has blocked more shots (44) than any other first year player and his 4.4 blocks per 48 minutes are tied for second in the NBA (among players with 35-plus games played).