Milwaukee Bucks could have been 5-0 on their road trip. That would have meant the Bucks broke their record for most consecutive road wins. It would have also meant that Milwaukee avenged their loss to Phoenix from earlier this season. None of that happened. Instead, Milwaukee’s road trip started strong only to fall apart at the very end. Bucks have now lost consecutive games for the first time this season, and Phoenix is now the only team who has swept the Milwaukee Bucks all season. Sports are a weird thing, man.

Player of the Game: Kelly Oubre – Yep, this is what a Bucks killer looks like, folks. Oubre always seemed to go off against the Bucks when he played for Washington, and tonight was no different. Oubre went off for 27 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks. He had a +20 PER and hit a massive three down the stretch to give the Suns a late lead that they never gave back to Milwaukee. He is a good piece for a rebuilding Suns.

Silver Star: DeAndre Ayton – Yeah, it wasn’t a night for the Bucks. It is all about the Suns. DeAndre Ayton does not get the attention of the other rookies. I said on the podcast today, I’d rather have the two through four versus Ayton… After watching him tonight, I might want to take that back. Ayton needs a little bit of an outside game, but he’s a force. Ayton had 19 points and 12 rebounds, but most importantly, he found ways to make it very difficult on Giannis Antetokounmpo around the rim.

Positive: Bench showed up tonight for Milwaukee – Even if I’m a little upset about the lack of D.J. Wilson (Another story for another time), Bucks did get a good effort from their bench tonight. Nikola Mirotic, Ersan Ilyasova and Tony Snell had a combined 33 points as a bench unit. That’s encouraging for Milwaukee. There were moments where the bench didn’t show up for Milwaukee and put too much reliance on the starters.

Negative: Another late lead pissed away – If the Utah blown lead was a bit of an issue, Phoenix was a disaster. Bucks now has blown leads of 17 and 10 in the last two fourth quarters. Somehow, this one stung worse. Why? Well, this is a bad team. There’s no reason you should let a team like the Suns creep back into this game and go on a finishing 26-11 run ending the game.

Next up: Milwaukee will try to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season when they head home to play the Indiana Pacers. Giannis had his way with this team last time around and hopefully, history will repeat itself on Thursday night.

Charlie.