Some could say the Milwaukee Bucks didn’t exactly deserve Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. I would say that’s a fair point honestly. Bucks did not have their best effort from three and other shots were not falling for them. But one player who picked up the slack them was Brook Lopez. After a rough Round 2, Splash Mountain came alive and propelled Milwaukee to a Game 1 win with a huge fourth quarter. As others have mentioned, this was a game Toronto needed to have with how well they played for the first three quarters, and instead, they ran out of gas resulting in a Bucks Game 1 victory.

Player of the Game: Brook Lopez – What a night for him. He finishes with a career-high 29 points and eleven rebounds. Lopez played the role of spark plug for Milwaukee on Wednesday night. He hit big shot after big shot as well as getting into the paint and making some noise there as well. Lopez nailed a three with less than two minutes left to go in the game to put Milwaukee up four. They did not look back after that one.

Honorable Mention: Malcolm Brogdon – Here’s the thing, Giannis had a nice stat line and played well but I want to give the honors to our President. Brogdon became a steady influence over the first half. Things weren’t really going right for the Bucks, yet, they still found a way to be down eight. Malcolm played a large role in making that happen with a few key shots. If not for Brogdon’s eleven points in the first half, I’m unsure if we’re talking about a victory.

The Thing I liked: Bucks played one of their worst games of the playoffs and still won – This is the common thread when talking about what the Bucks did last night. They did not play well, yet, they still came out victorious going away in the fourth quarter. That has to be demoralizing and terrifying if you’re Toronto today. This might be the worst version of Milwaukee in this series, and it resulted in an eight-point Bucks victory.

The Thing I didn’t like: Middleton and Bledsoe’s rough nights – Milwaukee got absolutely nothing out of Khris Middleton or Eric Bledsoe. Both players struggled to do anything. Middleton finished with eleven points but only made four shots all game. He needs to be better than that. Same goes for Bledsoe who made three shots and missed six threes. Between the two players, they were 7-for-24 and 1-for-12 from three. Good news is Game 2 is a new game, and things can change for the better.

The highlight of the night: Lopez hits a major three

Brook Lopez made it rain and brought the fire in Game 1 😤 pic.twitter.com/LxtGJ7mDeZ

— ESPN (@espn) May 16, 2019

Next up: Bucks get ready for Game 2 at the Fiserv Forum on Friday night. The atmosphere was crazy for Game 1, and that was a school night… Can you imagine what it’s going to be like on Friday? Things will be off the hook around the city. Hopefully, Milwaukee can get themselves right offensively.

Charlie.