Milwaukee Bucks were in a grinder with the Orlando Magic on Monday afternoon for three quarters. The game looked more like Game 1 than in it did Game’s 2 and 3. Bucks led by three to start the fourth quarter after a three by Giannis Antetokounmpo. George Hill also stole the inbounds pass and Bucks nearly added more points right before the fourth. Regardless, you could feel this shift and surge coming from the Bucks. And that is exactly what happened. Milwaukee uses a big fourth-quarter run to win 121-106. Bucks have won three straight, and go up 3-1 in the series.

Player of the Game: Khris Middleton – What a fourth for Midds. We were set for another day of ‘Can Bucks win without Middleton?’ before he went the fuck off in the fourth quarter. Middleton scored eleven straight points and started the fourth-quarter run. He could not miss and found the hot hand. The Bucks All-Star finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Some of Middleton’s fourth-quarter success can be attributed to Giannis who told him to find his stroke late in this one. Name me a better teammate, you can’t.

Before the 4th quarter started, Giannis says he told Khris Middleton they needed him to "shoot the ball until his arms fall off."

— Matt Velazquez (@Matt_Velazquez) August 24, 2020

Honorable Mention: Giannis Antetokounnmpo – Another great game for the MVP. He scored 31 points, pulled down 15 rebounds, and dished out eight assists. That’s almost a typical stat line for Giannis which is fucking ridiculous to think about. Antetokounmpo showed off a little mid-range game yesterday which I liked. He has that shot in his arsenal, but it doesn’t always fall. When it does, he is nearly unstoppable.

One thing to consider: Bucks playing Magic is great for the long run – Not enough people are talking about what a benefit it is to play a scrappy, hungry team like Orlando. Even though Magic are not very good, they play extremely hard. They challenge the Bucks and have not laid down at any point. Consider Brooklyn or even Portland who seemingly laid down against their better opponent. That hasn’t happened with Orlando. This will help the Bucks against Miami and if they advance to play Toronto/Boston.

Next up: Milwaukee will try and finish off Orlando for Game 5 on Wednesday afternoon. This is a late afternoon start, so, the routine for Giannis and crew should be a bit better. Bucks cannot look ahead and think about their second-round matchup with Miami in this one. They need to keep their heads down and deliver the final blow to the Magic’s season.

Charlie.