While many people are crying in their beer last night when Wisconsin fell to Florida, people can shift their attention to Milwaukee Bucks who are the hottest team in basketball. Milwaukee won nine of their last 11, and they are 11-3 for the month of March. It’s absolutely absurd. They’re closing out teams unlike they have all year making this team really scary. Milwaukee did it again with a 100-97 victory over Atlanta Hawks to put them in a tie for the fifth seed. No one wants to play Bucks right now with 11 games left in the regular season. First time, Milwaukee has been two games over .500 since January 13th.

Player of the Game: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks) – Giannis! Giannis! Giannis! He’s making a push for first-team All-NBA, but my guess is second team is probably more reasonable. Antetokounmpo finished with 34 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals. Giannis scored 17 points and grabbed eight boards in the first quarter alone. This is the second straight game for Giannis with 30 points or more. Antetokounmpo hasn’t had 30 points in three straight games, but it’s possible against Chicago.

(Not) Player of the Game: Khris Middleton (Bucks) – Tough game for Midds with going 1-for-13 from the field with only six points. That’s something you don’t see every day from Middleton, and surprising considering how bad Atlanta has been against wings this season. This probably has more to do with three games in four days is a heavy workload for a guy still coming back from injury. He’ll be fine against Chicago.

Player of the Game: Dennis Schroder (Hawks) – The Bucks killer himself from Schroder with 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as he tried to be the difference for Atlanta as they’re trying to break out of their slump. Milwaukee is a good matchup for Schroder as he found a way to get buckets out there.

Positive: Bucks start creeping at the five seed – This is very unexpected. I have a longer post probably for Monday or Tuesday about where the realism should be with Milwaukee for the playoffs. Five seed is within range now being tied with the Hawks as they’re struggling without Paul Milsap. There’s no word when he will back. Hawks get an easy slate in the next three games with Brooklyn tomorrow, Phoenix and Philadelphia. That’s easy picking for a team to rite the ship. If they do fall, Bucks might have a chance.

Negative: Do they want the five seed? – Hear me out for a minute… Milwaukee should do all things possible to avoid Toronto in the first round. Raptors are a bad matchup for this team, and Kyle Lowry will be back sometime in April. Bucks match up better with Washington or Boston, and the second round becomes more clear for this team. Amid all the worries about playing Toronto, they are historically bad in the postseason minus last season.

Next up: Bucks will stay at home to play Chicago Bulls in their final matchup of the season in a fun Sunday afternoon matchup. It should be a packed house in the Bradley Center. Milwaukee hasn’t swept Chicago since the 2001 season. Bulls continue to be a hot mess as they got beat down by Philadelphia last night. This is Chicago’s last gasp at the postseason.

Charlie.