Charlie Villanueva says playing against the Toronto Raptors is no big deal. His numbers against his former team would suggest otherwise.
Michael Redd scored a season-high 35 points and Villanueva added 13 of his 25 in the fourth quarter Monday night, leading Milwaukee to a 107-97 win over the Toronto Raptors . Milwaukee, which finished the game on a 13-0 run, lost its previous nine games -- including four this season -- without former No. 1 draft pick Andrew Bogut, who missed his second straight game with back spasms.
But the Bucks did just fine without him for one night, thanks to Villanueva, who insisted it was no big deal to play against the Raptors. Toronto drafted him seventh overall in 2005 but dealt him for T.J. Ford the next year.
Too bad his broad smile betrayed him.
"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.
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.
"I felt we could've been a little more aggressive,'' Bosh said.
The Bucks simply outscored the Raptors down the stretch, getting 11 points each from Charlie Bell and Ramon Sessions and sending one of the NBA's most disappointing teams to another loss after it appeared Toronto had built some momentum with a big win over Orlando on Sunday.
