Milwaukee Bucks headed out on their first real road trip of the season on Tuesday night when they played the Portland Trail Blazers. This is the first long road trip of the season for Milwaukee spanning four cities, three states in five days. It’s not going to be an easy trip playing four teams that are above .500 to begin the young year. The trip got off on the wrong foot after the Portland Trail Blazers handled the Bucks last night, 118-103. C.J. McCollum broke out out of his early season slump at the right time to give the Blazers the bump they needed in this one.

Player of the Game: C.J. McCollum – What a night for C.J. He dominated this game with 40 points on 17-of-26 shooting including five made three pointers out of 10 attempts. He could not be touched in this game. McCollum did most of his work in the second half and helped Portland push their lead out in the third quarter where the Blazers outscored the Bucks by eight points building on their six-point halftime lead. This is an encouraging game for McCollum who has been inconsistent to start the year.

Honorable Mention: Brook Lopez – Solid game from Brook who helped keep Milwaukee close at certain points. Lopez had 22 points with six made threes in the games. It’s good to see Lopez played well on Tuesday after he had a few clunkers against Boston then Sacramento. Lopez is a vital asset to the Bucks, and when he’s scoring, it’s a great sign.

Thing I Didn’t Like: Free throws were not a thing – Milwaukee made 30 free throws on Sunday, and last night, they only got to the line eight times in the game. That’s only four times in the game. Bucks are a good enough free throw shooting team, and a physical one that they should be going to the line 20 times per game. Officiating was a bit shoddy, but still, there’s no excuse for not attacking the rim more often.

Thing I Really Didn’t Like: Letting the bench beat you – One of the more annoying things under the Kidd administration was some random bench player going off against Milwaukee. It happened last night with Evan Turner nearly having a double-double with 21 points and 9 rebounds. The Villain played a large part in Milwaukee’s demise last night.

Highlight of the Night: Ugh, poor Big Ragu. Too much sauce.

C.J. McCollum out here teaching harsh lessons

(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/jpae4IzLtL

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 7, 2018

Next up: Welp, they have to play Golden State on Thursday. Warriors have been very good at home to no one’s surprise. I don’t feel great about their chances in this one, but you never know. Any given night.