Some might say playoff tiebreaker talk in mid-January is meaningless, but to me, it’s important. Milwaukee Bucks have one tiebreaker secured with the Chicago Bulls. Two teams have now have tiebreakers over Bucks – Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks as it’s apparent the NBA Southeast division doesn’t treat Milwaukee well. Bucks fall 111-98 in their second game in three days.

Player of the Game (Bucks): Jabari Parker – This is a tough one because Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped 33 and Jabari Parker made only four shots. But still, the fact he nearly had a triple-double is an encouraging sign. Let’s not forget, many critics of Parker said that ‘he was just a scorer.’ Parker proved he’s much more than that with eight points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. That’s a good stat line for him, and one we see more from Greek counterpart.

(Not) Player of the Game (Bucks): Mirza Teletovic – This is the second straight game where Mirza saw a DNP-CD, and there’s no real explanation as to why it happened. He’s missed a few games here and there, but this one is a bit surprising. Mirza had such a good game in this arena earlier this season, and he doesn’t sniff the court on Sunday afternoon. That makes no sense.

Player of Game (Hawks): Mike Dunleavy – Mike Goddamn Dunleavy. One of the bigger Bucks killer who was a former Buck and a noted villain to all Bucks fans. He scored 20 points off the bench with four threes. To his credit, Dunleavy went about his job in a very businessman-like after trying to work out a deal out of Hawks.

Positive: Giannis looks back to normal – There’s not many good things from this game, but one is Giannis looks back to normal. 33 points and eight rebounds being the only real player whose offensive game showed up in A-Town.

Negative: Pick your poison – There were a few bad things about this game – They only had six made three-pointers which won’t win you many games or how about the 15 point fourth quarter. What about four of the five starters not making it to double digits. It was a pretty ugly effort from Bucks. Sundays haven’t been kind to them.

Next up: Milwaukee takes on Philadelphia in a couple hours. I’ll be in attendance to watch Giannis versus noted Packers fan Joel Embiid. It should be a very fun game. Sixers shouldn’t be underestimated.

Charlie.