No one thought the Milwaukee Bucks would win last night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Vegas slotted them as a nine-point underdog to start and when they ruled Paul George out, it only moved the line a little bit. Bucks fans did not expect to see Milwaukee play well tonight considering how bad things went with the Thunder earlier this season plus the team doesn’t usually play well on a back-to-back. Instead, Milwaukee carried over the energy from Thursday night into a rousing first half performance and held on with a last-second bucket from Giannis Antetokounmpo to win this game amind a huge effort from the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook.

The continued growth of John Henson
I had beverages with our friend, Mitch, whilst watching this game, and in the fourth quarter I said to him, ‘John Henson is my man of the match. Henson had 18 points and 6 rebounds in the game. The 18 points is a season-high for him and four away from his career high. He’s on a nice stretch of late with double figures in three of his last four games. Henson continues to find ways to be effective in Milwaukee’s offense. He deserves a lot of credit for retooling his game and playing well. Another note about Henson, he did a great job with Steven Adams who virtually did nothing in this game.

Hero ball has got to stop
This will be a recap blog where we’re not going to be mean to Jason Kidd for once, but let’s be clear, some coach needs to get in the heads of these guys to avoid hero ball. Khris Middleton is the worst offender especially late in the game. Eric Bledsoe has some bad moments along with the occasional Matt Dellavedova hero ball moments. This team is so much better when the ball is moving around to multiple people.

The wide spectrum of late game Eric Bledsoe
Man, what a wild ride from Eric Bledsoe to finish this game. He hit multiple big shots to help Milwaukee stave off the Thunder’s final push but also we had a foul on a Westbrook three plus two missed free throws that could have put the game on ice. Bledsoe is slowly taking over the Middleton role of being the closer of this team. I like it. He’s fearless and usually makes wise decisions.

Next up
Milwaukee heads to Toronto for a New Year’s Day game and boy, am I worried about this one. First of all, Bucks do not play well in Toronto for the most part. Second, this ‘young’ team will be spending New Year’s in Toronto which is a place known for strip clubs and parties all over the place. Good thing it’s at 6:00 pm but we could see a hangover Bucks outing like never before.

Charlie.