Milwaukee Bucks met with the new-look Brooklyn Nets for the first time on Monday night. They played at Brooklyn with the newest member of the Nets, James Harden, on the court. The Nets were still missing Kyrie Irving from the equation. Even without Kyrie, Brooklyn looked pretty sharp on Monday night. They beat Milwaukee, 125-123, in a dramatic thriller that went down to the very end. It was probably not a game that the Bucks deserved to win, but they fought hard down the stretch to nearly steal a road win.

What went wrong for the Bucks: The bench didn’t show up against a good team, again – Now, it’s too early in the season to make sweeping accusations about the team. But the Bucks bench seems to be fine against bad teams like the Detroit Pistons, but when it comes to good teams, they wilt a bit. We saw this against Utah where Milwaukee got no bench support to speak of.

What went right for Milwaukee: Moral victories shouldn’t be a thing with the Bucks, but… – This is as close to a moral victory for Milwaukee as you’re going to find. They did not play entirely well. Weird night for Giannis Antetokounmpo. They didn’t shoot from deep all that well. Milwaukee isn’t fully there yet. I know that’s frustrating when you see a Brooklyn team playing together like it’s nothing, but it’s different. Mike Budenholzer is trying to change his ways, his system is more complex, this might be a different matchup a few months from now.

Player of the Game: Kevin Durant – My podcast co-host Mitch mentioned how it’s not fun to play Durant and forgot how much it sucks to do it. He’s right. Durant was awesome. Durant has looked good all season. Nets star scored 30 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had six assists. KD had the biggest shot of the night nailing one from three to give Brooklyn the two point lead. You know immediately that thing was heading in too.

Honorable Mention: Giannis Antetokounmpo – Despite the odd night, it was a productive one for the Greek Freak with 34 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. He made half of his shots including two three-pointers. Good to see Antetokounmpo bounce back at the free throw line with 6-of-8 after Friday’s disaster.

Next up: Milwaukee faces the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. Another big game for the Bucks. If they lose both of these, I think more questions begin to swirl around them versus the noise getting quieter. Lakers blew an inexplicable lead last night losing to Golden State, 115-113.

Charlie.