Eastern Conference is its best version this season. Before the Victor Oladipo injury, there were five teams with a legitimate case at making the NBA Finals. Brooklyn is sneaky fun. After that, it gets a little wonky, but it’s not the East’s fault they have New York, Chicago, Detroit who are all premier markets and former stables of the league yet they all suck. Good news is the Milwaukee Bucks are around, and for now, the Eastern Conference is theirs for the taking. Bucks beat Toronto tonight, 105-92, and they’ve now won three of four versus Toronto. They’re the only team to beat the Raptors in Toronto in the last two months. This Bucks team is a good one.

Player of the Game: D.J. Wilson – Yes, we live in the world where D.J. Wilson is the POG. That’s happening for us tonight. Wilson stepped up in a big way tonight with a career-high 16 points. He made three 3-pointers and was 6-for-10 from the field. Wilson started to fade for a bit, but he found his stroke on offense again with two impressive nights as he followed up a good Detroit game with a positive one tonight. Wilson continues to show himself as the lead big man off the bench. It’s not Ersan Ilyasova, it’s D.J. fucking Wilson.

Silver Star: Khris Middleton – The All-Star gets some honors tonight. Today was a huge confidence lift for Middleton. He played his best game against the Raptors this year with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists. He made seven-of-nine shots and did a great job against Kawhi Leonard on defense. Middleton outplayed Kawhi, and that has to be a huge boost of confidence for him. He struggled against Leonard all year, but Midds finally climbed the mountain against him.

Positive: It’s all abou the defense – I don’t know how many times we’ve went out of the way to praise the defense, but goodness, was it good tonight? Sure, Pascal Siakam officially stuck his flag in the Bucks Killer Club tonight. But other than that? Crickets from the Raptors. Kyle Lowry and Leonard combined for 22 points. If you’re doing that against Leonard and Lowry, that’s going to be a successful night.

Negative: Can’t surrender a big lead like that – Bucks had the foot on the throat. They were up 24 at one point in the third quarter. Giannis gets into foul trouble, and things spiraled from there. Siakam got cooking, and Milwaukee truly looked like this game would flip on its head. Thankfully, the Bucks restored order. This team has done well to put away teams all season with an average margin of victory at 9.4, so, this is just a blip in the rader.

Highlight of the Night: We call this – The Toronto Business Decision.

GET OUT OF THE WAY 😤#FearTheDeer | #Giannis pic.twitter.com/cOFvDjpkys

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) February 1, 2019

Next up: Bucks waste no time as they head to Washington play another one with the Wizards. This will be their first of two with Washington in the next week, and their third game with Washington in the last month. Wizards have been good at home, so, they present a challenge to the Bucks. Giannis will likely play, so, that will help things compared to the last night they paid a visit to the nation’s capital.

Charlie.