Welcome back to basketball. After a week off, the Milwaukee Bucks were back in action for a big game against the Boston Celtics. It’s the only time Boston would be in Milwaukee, and this game presented an opportunity for Milwaukee to take the season series from Boston, which they haven’t done in four years. Celtics are now 7.5 back from the Bucks, but if they were to make a torrid sprint to the finish, Milwaukee owns the tiebreaker over them. Bucks won last night in dramatic fashion with a 98-97 victory as they hold on to the win despite Boston having a bit of momentum down the stretch. This is Milwaukee’s third straight win, and they still haven’t lost to a team twice this season.

Player of the Game: Giannis Antetokounmpo – Like with these recaps, I try to seek out opportunity to feature other players yet Giannis is too fucking good. Sorry, not sorry. Giannis finished the game with 30 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. He has the most 30-10-5 games of any player this season. Boston does not matchup that well against Giannis, and it showed again on Thursday. Jaylyn Brown, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford all tried but they all came up short. Giannis had himself a game to continue to make his case for MVP.

Silver Star: Al Horford – I usually don’t give this out to an opposing player during a Bucks win, but once again, Horford killed the Bucks. If there’s an advantage that Boston has over Milwaukee, it’s Horford. They do not have a good answer for him. Nikola Mirotic did an okay job on him, and maybe, that’s the answer yet he still went off yesterday. Horford finished with 21 points, 17 rebounds (seven offensive) and five assists. That’s a helluva line from the Celtics big man.

Positive: Bucks defense came to play – Despite Horford’s big night, the Bucks defense showed up for the first game of the season. If either team’s defense lagged last night, it’s probably a blowout. But that didn’t happen. Milwaukee locked in defensively especially against Kyrie Irving who struggled all night. Milwaukee did a great job with their defensive effort. Even though shots weren’t falling, this was a playoff-level defense from Milwaukee.

Negative: Can’t settle late in games – I’ve seen this happen a few times this year, and it hasn’t bit the Bucks yet in a game. I’m waiting for it. Bucks took way too many threes to put Boston away instead of taking it to the basket. They were up by eight points in the fourth quarter and took six straight threes that all did not go in. Bucks need to be more aggressive in those situations.

Highlight of the night: Giannis chasedown block ftw

Next up: Bucks stay home to play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night. It will be a sellout, well-lubricated crowd. This is a different Wolves team than the one Milwaukee saw in mid-October. But they’re still not that good. Wolves have been horrendous on the road this year, and Milwaukee will look for their fourth straight victory.

Charlie.