Milwaukee Bucks started hot and fresh in the first quarter. They were up 12 when the quarter ended. For the remainder of the game, Milwaukee trailed 104-67. That is bad. Like falling asleep drunk on your floor when you’re 30 years old bad. The Bucks didn’t have it tonight. The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now. Similar to the Utah game earlier this season Milwaukee indeed ran into a buzzsaw. What can you make of this one if you’re a Bucks fan? Here are three things to know.

1. They need Bobby Portis back as soon as possible – There is more to come on this with the podcast today, but Bobby Portis not being this is a massive problem for this team. They lack rebounding, scoring, energy, effort, hustle. All of those things Portis brings to the table. And while some guys can add some of those things, not having Portis available really hurts this team. Let’s hope this isn’t a two-week thing like it was for Jrue Holiday, and Portis is under contract tracing versus actually contracting COVID-19.

2. Getting beat by a combination of Kennard, Jackson, Morris, and Mann stings – Look, the Clippers are good. They have a good team. But getting beat by the guys we saw tonight is fucking brutal. Reggie Jackson found the fire in the third quarter. Then Luke Kennard put the Bucks to bed. Of all people, Kennard did it to Milwaukee. That hurts. Marcus Morris, yet again, finds a way to be an All-Star when he plays Milwaukee. The fact that Kawhi Leonard, while having 23 points, didn’t do much will drive you crazy as a fan.

3. What’s up with no rebounding? – The effort for Milwaukee defensively wasn’t there. Simply put, they seemed to just shrug their shoulders when things got warm for Los Angeles. Way too many open runaways for the Clippers to get to the lane looking like they’re the Houston Cougars. That cannot happen. Milwaukee is one of the best teams at preventing offensive rebounds. When the opposite happens, you have to wonder about what the effort was from this team.

Next up: Milwaukee gets set to play the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lake show is a shell of themselves, but they have strung together two straight wins beating Cleveland and Orlando. Milwaukee is a level-up. This is not a game that the Bucks want to lose.

Charlie.