Tapping The Keg, it’s a podcast you may have heard of it, discussed how “It would be so Bucks to beat Clippers and Raptors in back-to-back nights after losing to Denver the way they did.” That’s exactly what happened. It’s hard to argue which win was better this weekend. Milwaukee bossed Los Angeles around which was fun to see, but given the historically bad Bucks have been versus Raptors, that win felt nicer. If anything, it shows the team they can handled Raps if they see them in the playoffs.

Friday: Bucks 112 Clippers 101
Quick start propels team – After a rough game on Wednesday where Milwaukee scored only 15 points in the first quarter, they responded with a 34-point first quarter then build the lead out to a 19 points at halftime. This held throughout the whole game despite Chris Paul getting hot in the third quarter.

Chippy McChippy – Bucks seem to get rivals out of nowhere, and Los Angeles Clippers are next on the Summer Jam screen. Giannis Antetokounmpo seemed to have a little extra in him. Blake Griffin took issue with Greg Monroe dunking all over his ass. Paul whined about some calls. These two teams meet again in a couple weeks, and I’m guessing it will not be friendly.

Player of the Game: Giannis Antetokounmpo – We were a game or two away from people pondering ‘All-Star Game hangover?’ Giannis squashed any of that nonsense with a big line – 24 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. He played great. Monroe also added 24 off the bench.

Saturday: Bucks 101 Raptors 94
What can Hawes bring? – So there was an interesting subplot of Saturday night with Spencer Hawes finding his rhythm with Milwaukee. He scored 16 points with 8 rebounds. Hawes did most of his work in the second quarter and helped Wisconsin flip this game around. He also set some nice screens to free Bucks scorers. We’ll see if he will see more time this week.

Lucky Bucks – Hot starts didn’t happen in this one. Milwaukee started off 2-for-18 from the field and only scored 12 points in the first quarter. Good news for them, Toronto also started very slow. If Raptors were more on their game, this thing might have got out of hand like the Denver game on Wednesday. They need to be a little better in first quarters.

Player of the Game: Khris Middleton – While we can sing Hawes praises, it really helped to have Middleton out there for a second straight game. This was his first back-to-back of the season, and he handled it just fine. Middleton scored 24 points in 30 minutes.

Next up: Milwaukee has quite a week upcoming. They play Philly on the road on Monday where Milwaukee will look for revenge. New York comes to town on Wednesday night who got better half of Bucks last time around. Indiana comes to the BC on Friday night for their first visit in Milwaukee then the next night with Minnesota Timberwolves. If Milwaukee could win 3 of 4, it would be ideal before heading out West.

Charlie.