Milwaukee Bucks opened their season against the Boston Celtics. This is an Eastern Conference rivalry of the last few years. The Bucks started their bubble season last season against Boston too. Those results were better than last night. After Milwaukee struggled defensively all night, Milwaukee clamped Boston and held them to 21 points in the fourth. Jayson Tatum hit a prayer of a shot to beat Milwaukee in the last second. Milwaukee falls to 0-1 for the first time since 2016.

Player of the Game: Khris Middleton – Another year, another Khris Middleton performance torching the Boston Celtics. Middleton had a great game. He scored 27 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and handed out eight assists. Middleton cooked the Boston defenders last night. There was talk nationally about Middleton shooting more in the Bucks’ offense and he got up 20 shots in this one. That’s encouraging for Midds. He was very efficient and looked like a second star.

Honorable Mention: Giannis Antetokounmpo – The Greek Freak played pretty well in this one. The positives were that he was effective from the field in a few different ways. As usual, Giannis could not be stopped by the Boston defenders. He also made six of his eight free throws, but Giannis needed one more to force overtime. Weirdly, that’s a good thing for Antetokounmpo. The negatives are the turnovers were excessive with seven of them. And eight three attempts feel a little much especially the one in the fourth when he’s dominating down low.

What went right for the Bucks? – The fourth quarter was awesome: Look, the fourth quarter matters. I know you might think that might be meaningless because it’s one game. But it is. The Bucks turned up their intensity in that quarter and dominated it. If they did not have a lackadaisical late second quarter and most of the third, Milwaukee probably wins the game easily. All of the Bucks’ big players were excellent in the final quarter.

What went wrong for the Bucks? – Bucks need a better closing lineup: We cannot keep doing American Ersan aka Pat Connaughton in the final five minutes. He doesn’t belong there. I hope that D.J. Augustin will be that guy for Milwaukee. Connaughton is not a late-game closer for this team. There are some things that Connaughton does well, but Mike Budenholzer values him too much.

Next up: Milwaukee gets set to play the Golden State on Friday afternoon. Warriors were run off the floor by Brooklyn in Game 1. Bucks cannot expect the same thing in this one. I have no idea how they’re going to guard Giannis and Middleton without Draymond Green. It’s too bad the Bucks will not have fans for the first holiday game at the Fiserv Forum.

Charlie.