My friend Murph brought up an interesting point over the weekend. He said to me as we’re watching Bucks dominate another team on Saturday, ‘You know it’s hard to watch Bucks blowout teams every game.’ In a way, he’s right. Bucks rarely find themselves in a dogfight. Weirdly, that is tough to watch them night in and night out. But in a different weird way, there is a perverse enjoyment of kicking everyone’s ass in the league. Bucks have won in blowout fashion in their last five wins. Games haven’t been close in the fourth quarter. Bucks-Nets could be the first-round playoff matchup, and if it is, Bucks showed why it could be another dog walk first round.

Player of the Game: Khris Middleton – Great game from Midds yet again. He continues to make a push at an All-Star spot. Middleton is a lock to get in at this point. He has been tremendous in the last few weeks. He scored 20 points with four rebounds and four assists. He went 7-for-12 from the field and made three 3-pointers. One thing pointed out was that Middleton played a little point guard on Saturday and something to monitor as we head into the All-Star Break.

Honorable Mention: Giannis Antetokounmpo – Good night from Giannis. It doesn’t exactly show with the eight turnovers. But if you think that he got three of those due to offensive fouls, it is a lot better of a night. Antetokounmpo scored 29 points, 12 rebounds, and he knocked down a couple of threes. Besides the Portland game, there haven’t been a lot of great Giannis games recently.

One Thing to Watch: Bucks’ lockdown defenders – In the last seven games, Bucks have a defensive rating of 100.8. That is the best in the league by a longshot. Milwaukee is three points better than the next team which is the Los Angeles Lakers. They’ve been great in the last seven games, and that’s the big reason they’re on a seven-game winning streak.

Next Up: Milwaukee plays their final game before their Paris trip this afternoon against the Chicago Bulls. This is also their final game against Bulls for the year. Bucks have won nine straight games against Chicago with the last five being by nine points or more.

Charlie.