Milwaukee Bucks won two straight games, and they were going for their third against Philadelphia 76ers. Milwaukee lost two games to Philadelphia at home in January. That being said, this Philly team is much different. No Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel is in Dallas, and Jahlil Okafor sat this one out. Regardless, Milwaukee needed to handle a struggling Sixers team in a one-game road trip. They did just that with a 112-98 victory where Bucks handled Philly from start to finish.

Player of the Game (Bucks) – Tony Snell: Holy shit Tony Snell! The Snelly Cat goes off for 18 first-half points. He didn’t do much in the second half, but who cares. Snell coming up with a season-high 21 is huge for Milwaukee. If he can provide 10 to 13 points per game down the stretch, this is a different Bucks team.

(Not) Player of the Game (Bucks) – Mirza Teletovic: I’m not trying to shit on all of John Hammond’s acquisitions because I was all about Mirza in the offseason but holy hell, he’s been hot garbage this season minus a few games. Teletovic got extended minutes tonight given the blowout, and he didn’t perform with only 6 points with going 2-for-8 from the field.

Player of the Game (Sizers) – Shawn Long: Every now and again a 10-day contract player comes up and starts playing well for a team, and one guy might be Shawn Long. The rookie from Louisiana-Lafayette had a nice game with 13 points in 15 minutes with seven rebounds. If Long made five free throws, he drops 18 out of nowhere. He’s a big boy that’s tough to deal with.

Positive: Giannis got back to the line – When Milwaukee is really doing the damn thing, Giannis Antetokounmpo gets to the free throw line 10 times or more. He ended up there 12 times and made nine of them. Antetokounmpo had 24 points with a good amount from the line. He needs to make that more and more of a focus as he grows as an NBA player.

Negative: Too much Giannis – So this is tough, I bitch about Antetokounmpo’s minutes in close games that he didn’t play enough. Then we have a blowout and I thought The Alphabet played too much tonight. Jason Kidd can’t win, and maybe, this is a problem that I have with my Bucks fandom that I need to get over.

Next Up: New York Knicks come to town, and they will come in fresh. Carmelo Anthony rested on Monday night, and my guess he will play on Wednesday at Bradley Center. Bucks blew a double-digit lead on a wild Friday night versus New York. Milwaukee needs to keep pounding and take advantage of the bad teams they’re playing.

Charlie.