Michael Redd scored a season-high 35 points and Villanueva added 13 of his 25 in the fourth quarter Monday night, leading Milwaukee to its first victory without Bogut in 21 months, 107-97 over the Toronto Raptors .

''Andrew's a very important piece to what we're trying to do,'' said Villanueva, who also was injured when the Bucks won three meaningless games late in the 2006-07 season without Bogut. ''Any win we can get without him is a great win. Andrew's a great player and hopefully he comes back soon.''

But the Bucks did just fine without him for one night, thanks to Villanueva, who said it was no big deal to play against the Raptors, the organization that drafted him seventh overall in 2005 but dealt him for T.J. Ford the next year.

''I make my shots when I play Toronto. We should be playing Toronto every game,'' said Villanueva, averaging 23.2 points in the last five games against the Raptors, 10 above his career average.

''It's disappointing because this certainly was a winnable game,'' said Anthony Parker, who finished with 12 points.

Even with a 14-21 record, Toronto is within sniffing distance of the playoffs in the woeful Eastern Conference as the season approaches the halfway point. Milwaukee (17-19) would be the eighth seed, even though Villanueva acknowledges it's way too early to think about that.

''This is one of the teams that's competing for the eight, seven, six spots,'' Villanueva said. ''Getting this win was huge, big, well-needed.''

The Raptors, playing without centre Jermaine O'Neal and guard Jose Calderon on this two-game road trip, turned to Chris Bosh, who had 31 points on 12-of-14 shooting and 11 rebounds to help Toronto hold the lead through most of three quarters. The Raptors shot 54 per cent for the night.