Brook Lopez is one of the fan favorites of the Milwaukee Bucks. He is a seven footer that shoots threes at a higher rate than any center. He doesn’t rebound much but plays great defense. He should definitely be an All-Star, and if not an All-Star, Lopez being in the three-point shootout makes that whole thing relevant again. Lopez is on fire currently. In the last two games, Splash Mountain has 14 made threes. He is the first center in history to have two straight nights with seven made threes. Lopez was one of the reasons why Milwaukee laid the absolute smackdown on the Detroit Pistons tonight with a dominating 121-98 victory. Milwaukee won their fourth straight game. Bucks have won 10 of their last 12 and are now 17-3 at home. What a wagon.

Player of the Game: Brook Lopez – Mitch Ross is the king of the Brook Lopez Fan Club, but I’ll take a spot in the cabinet. When he is on fire, it’s so fucking fun. The trailer threes, the YOLO shots to just see if they’ll go in and anything else under the sun. Lopez finished with 25 points. 21 of those points came from threes, and the other four came from the free throw line. Again, Splash Mountain did a good job on defense against Andre Drummond. He had a weak 15 points points and seven rebounds.

Silver Star: Khris Middleton – For a few weeks, Khris Middleton found himself in a slump. Like most shooters, he started to break out of it. We first saw it against Brooklyn on Saturday when Midds couldn’t miss then he carries it over to Tuesday. Middleton finished with 22 points on nine of 14 shooting with most of it coming from inside the three-point arc. Middleton only had one three-pointer. I know people don’t like mid-range jumpers, but I’m okay with it if Middleton comes back to life as a shooter.

Positive: No hangover effect – Not that I was too worried about our Bucks on New Year’s Day night, but there’s always that fear. Bucks could have tore it up at 720, and if they did, their bodies didn’t show it. Kudos for the Bucks for having the start time being normal to not throw the players off their schedule. All five starters scored in double-figures.

Negative: Not the best from the line – If there was one of thing to be negative about with this game is Milwaukee struggled from the line. They missed nine free throws. Even though this game was a blowout, free throws are a must. 65 percent is not going to get it done in April, May and June when Milwaukee is in the thick of things.

Highlight – Y’all already knoooooooooow (Giannis poster dunk, duh)

Next up: Milwaukee gets Atlanta for the first time this season on Friday night. It will be the first time Coach Mike Budenholzer coaches against his former team. Interested to see what Bud does with his star players. They have a critical home game the next night against Toronto. Does Giannis get a night off? What about Malcolm Brogdon? I wouldn’t recommend Middleton since he’s rolling a bit. Hawks have won five of their last seven games and will play Washington tomorrow night before facing off versus Milwaukee.

Charlie.