Milwaukee Bucks hoped to go nine games over .500 to head into the All-Star Break. They faced a formidable opponent against the Denver Nuggets who have been hot of late. No one really knew how hot Denver was before this game started. Nuggets went 24/40 from three-point line, and they made 20 of them before the fourth quarter. Nuggets were absolutely on fire, and there’s nothing Milwaukee could do about it. Losing is never fun, but sometimes, you have to admit a team like the Nuggets was on complete fire.

The land of triple-doubles
Inject watching Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo into my veins. These guys were awesome to watch tonight. Jokic had a triple-double in the first half, and the Nuggets star loves playing Milwaukee. This is his third straight game against the Cream City with a triple-double. Do I think John Henson could have slowed him down a little bit? Yes, yes I do. Thon Maker was a terrible matchup, and actually, Tyler Zeller did a decent job in the second half. Giannis Antetokounmpo shined in the second half as he tried to will the team back to victory.

Gary Harris lived up to his reputation
If you didn’t know, Gary Harris is slowly becoming one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. He showed it again last night holding down Khris Middleton who had a meager 17 points and struggled from the field. Harris doesn’t get the credit for being a great defender because their point guard defense is so bad. If people are angry at Middleton, it’s misguided for this game.

The Giannis-Zeller connection is real
Something to keep an eye on after the All-Star Break and if Henson returns is Tyler Zeller’s relationship with Giannis on offense. Basically, what we see is the teams collapse the paint to Giannis and then he looks for an open man which tends to be Zeller. That’s part of the reason Antetokounmpo racked up the assists this evening. We’ll see if this is a one time thing or a something that could be a thing come post All-Star Break

Next up
Bucks are off for eight days before starting out a very tough schedule in Toronto.

Charlie.