Typical, right? Milwaukee Bucks were ready to drop a game to the fading New York Knicks losers of their last five games tonight. The third quarter was a tire fire. One of the Milwaukee’s worst defensive efforts in some time, but their bench mob in the early fourth found a way to bail them out to make this game. Milwaukee scraped and clawed back into this game. Bucks could have easily been put away, but Knicks continually made poor shot selections leading to misses. It set up Giannis Antetokounmpo for the game-winner and he drilled it.

Because he WINS games.

Vote For Giannis NOW!! https://t.co/Ca2gq2Lqau

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) January 5, 2017

Player of the Game: Giannis Antetokounmpo – Don’t know what more I can say about him. I would love to hear ESPN and Turner’s conference calls in the coming days wondering how often Bucks can be on television. He finished with 27 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. He’s a monster. What a moment for Bucks fans.

(Not) Player of the Game: Tony Snell – We gave Snelly Cat a pass on Monday with his zero point effort since he spent a ton of time on Russell Westbrook, but last night, he played like pure ass. He had three total points.

Player of the Game (Knicks): Carmelo Anthony – He’s been somewhat of a Bucks killer in the past, and Anthony lived up to it with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. He had a couple chances to bury Milwaukee, and the shots weren’t falling. Sucks for Melo to have Derrick Rose leading his squad late and he goes hero ball.

Positive: Bench picks up Bucks – One of the more underrated storylines of this season is how well Milwaukee comes out usually in the fourth quarter. That’s why they’ve had leads late only to have them squandered them until this week. I’ve been critical of Jason Terry in the past, but he had two monster threes in the fourth quarter to pull Milwaukee back in this game. Loved how Jason Kidd rode Terry and Greg Monroe late in this one. Bucks need more of that.

Negative: That third quarter – Look, the third quarter doesn’t mean shit because they won the game and that’s what matters, yet, the third quarter stunk out loud. Bucks were completely helpless on both sides of the court. It’s very rare to see this team come out flat the way they did in the third period. Hope that’s not a trend.

Next up: Knicks-Bucks round two at the Bradley Center on ESPN. It’s going to be quite a hyped atmosphere with the Sports Illustrated cover, Giannis doing Giannis things, Fear The Deer night and everything else. Knicks will want some revenge. It would be sweet if Kristaps Porzingis could play in this one.