After one quarter of basketball, it appeared that the Milwaukee Bucks were headed for their fifth straight loss. Trying to figure out how to talk about this team after they came out flat on national television would be tough to defend. Instead, Milwaukee kept clawing back, and they went on a smoking hot 31-5 run to finish the third quarter and completely flip this game. Milwaukee would keep the momentum going in the fourth quarter and win this game going away, 118-110, scoring a much needed victory with work still left to be done tonight.

Tyler Zeller is a goddamn animal
Joe Prunty trusted Tyler Zeller yesterday to play extended minutes and it paid off for him. Zeller did a magnificent job on Joel Embiid keeping the All-Star in check unlike a lot of big man have in the past year and a half. Zeller definitely showed his worth out there. You wonder if he’s going to see more looks when a physical big man is beating up Milwaukee. He did suffer a scary injury on Sunday night, so, I’m unsure his status going into tonight’s affair with Indiana. Also, he works really well with Giannis. Zeller always seems to be there for an easy paint touch when Antetokounmpo is in the lane.

Jabari Parker is the spark plug of this bench and team
You wonder if Jabari Parker is going to get moved in the starting rotation very soon. I understand his worth off the bench, but it appears he’s more than capable to take over the spot that Tony Snell is filling. Snell hasn’t been good in a few months. Prunty could be slow playing Parker back into the lineup, or he likes the idea of Parker with the second unit. One of the issues with Parker in the starting lineup is it appears Eric Bledsoe and him have some weird chemistry. Both are trying to understand each other’s game at this point.

Active defense results in good things
The bad things about this defense on Sunday night were they gave up 72 points in the first half. The good things about this defense is they forced 26 turnovers from Philly. Now, did the Sixers make that happen or did the Bucks? The defense needs to be better down the stretch, but it’s encouraging that Milwaukee can force a young team into doing dumb shit throughout a game. I’ll cancel out the two and call it a wash for the night

Next up
Man, they have to travel to Indiana and play their third game in four nights. This is their sixth game in eight nights if you start with the New Orleans game last Sunday. It’s an extremely tall task to ask Milwaukee to win this game. I’d love for it to happen but fully expect a lost tonight which would make a 1-5 stretch against mostly playoff teams in the last week. Let’s hope they prove me wrong.