It was one of those nights for Milwaukee center Brook Lopez. With Giannis out with his left knee injury someone on the Bucks had to be special to make up the production.
Enter Brook Lopez from Stanford who had a career post season game with a 33 point, 7 rebound, 4 assist night. From the opening tip Atlanta never really had an answer for Lopez in the paint…which is somewhat unusual.
It’s an unusal outlier because Lopez is known more for his perimeter game as a big who can hit the perimeter three and stretch the other team’s perimeter defense. The most telling stat in this game was how the Bucks destroyed the Hawks with an onslaught of points in the paint.
But this game wasn’t just about the career night from Brook Lopez who’s brother Robin ‘Uni-Bomber’ Lopez is one of my favorite off the beaten path players in the league currently. BTW…back in the day at Stanford—the Lopez Brothers eliminated Kevin Durant and DJ Augustin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with an easy lopsided win over the Longhorns. He may look like a Uni-Bomber, but he speaks like a Stanford MBA grad. Interesting guy.
But back to my thought…four Milwaukee starters in this game accounted for 102 points. So this wasn’t just Brook Lopez Night. Khris Middleton played like an NBA All-Star which he is. Jrue Holiday played like the best pickup in the Eastern Conference this season. Bobby Portis got the start in the absence of Giannis and was in a word… superb.
Unlike the situation in 2016 in Okahoma City in Durant’s free agency season…Milwaukee’s GM made the moves to give Giannis the very real chance of advancing to the NBA Finals.
The three additions of Jrue Holiday, Bobby Portis, and PJ Tucker have all been prescient so far for the Bucks who are now one game away from meeting the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals.
Back in 2016 in Oklahoma City in Durant’s free agency season…Sam Presti went with Andre Roberson and Dion Waiters as his primary two guys to play the shooting guard slot.
No one in Oklahoma City who covers the team in this market and wants off the record access would ever write that, but I have an obscure off the beaten path underground blog so I can write it. It is what it is. Besides…Barry Tramel is a good guy.
I ask Barry a question once on an online lunch chat about whether he had many dealings with my scribe hero Dan Jenkins back in the day and he literally gave me a two page answer which I will always remember. I owe Barry Tramel a lunch. Plus… if you call Tramel on his number which he lists after every story he returns every call…which I think is refreshing in these days of the internet.
So…Game 6 back in Atlanta on Saturday night. We’ll see if Giannis and Trae can go.
If you’re one of those who voted for Trump twice…this is for you. From an American presidential history standpoint…this is why it will be tough for Trump to ever be voted the absolute worst POTUS ever.
It would be like some contemporary basketball player winning their seventh ring to pass Michael Jordan as the GOAT. Just saying.
I doubt Trump knows who James Buchanan is… so in his delusional world he’ll be okay regardless. His main dilemma right now is whether he goes with Lindsey Graham or Melatonin with the next prenup.