Milwaukee Bucks played twice over the weekend. They took on Denver on Friday night then played Phoenix on Sunday afternoon before the Super Bowl. Bucks’ winning streak ended at nine with Milwaukee losing to Denver on Friday night. Bucks tried to get another one started before All-Star weekend. They beat Phoenix Suns on Sunday, 129-108. As for the loss on Friday, Nuggets were red hot from deep and sometimes, there’s nothing you can do about it.

FRIDAY: Nuggets 127 Bucks 115
Player of the Game: Khris Middleton – Honestly, Giannis Antetokounmpo had a truly great game. Somehow, he didn’t get a triple-double but finished with 31 points, 16 boards, and nine assists. But Khris Middleton had another great. He went off for 51 on Wednesday night. Then Middleton followed it up with 24 points, nine assists, and four three-pointers. He couldn’t miss early on. People love to give him a hard time against good teams, but he showed up in this one.

One Thing to Know: Let’s talk about luck – With all of Milwaukee’s losses, it has taken some great luck for them to lose a game. As pointed out by Dean Maniatt, who is much smarter than I am, that any team shooting 45.2 percent or better from deep is an outlier. Denver shot 47.6 percent on Friday night. They could not miss from deep, and despite leaving guys open, only three guys in all of the NBA make half of their wide-open threes. People need to understand Bud’s system before they run their mouths online.

SUNDAY: Bucks 129 Suns 108
Player of the Game: Giannis Antetokounmpo – Giannis looked unstoppable in this one. He had 30 points, 19 rebounds, and 9 assists. Again, he nearly had a triple-double. Sure, he had seven turnovers, but that’s in the wash considering what he did to the Suns. Phoenix’s front line is completely banged up, and Antetokounmpo took advantage of that. He also grabbed six offensive rebounds too.

One Thing to Know: Donte DiVencenzo’s third-quarter heater – What a run for Donte in the second half. We saw what happened without Donte on Friday night. He is extremely valuable to this team. Bucks were up eleven points with the Suns trying to battle back. Then Donte happened with two threes, a rebound, and a steal. By the end of that, Bucks went back up by 20 points. The game wasn’t close after that one.

Next up this week: Bucks have three games this week with two one-game road trips which are weird. They head to New Orleans on Tuesday to play Zion Williamson and the spunky Pelicans. Zion versus Giannis is a must-see game. Then they play Philadelphia on Thursday at the Fiserv Forum. That crowd needs to be hellacious. Milwaukee ends the week by a Saturday trip to Orlando, their potential first-round playoff matchup.

Charlie.