The NBA year-end battle officially began, the East ushered in a strong dialogue, the Knicks sat at home to face the Bucks, before the game the Knicks ranked sixth in the East with a record of 16-12, and the Bucks were in the early season after a short run-in fluctuation, with the past period of 7 consecutive wins to improve the record to 22-7, chasing the Green Army in the second place in the East, two days ago the two teams had a meeting, the Bucks beat the Knicks by a big score.
Perhaps because of the day's rest, the game was another year-end battle, and the two teams quickly entered the state at the beginning, with Brother Alphabet sending consecutive violent dunks, and the Knicks overtook the score under the leadership of Brunson and Barrett, leading by 9 points at 36-27 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Knicks stretched the margin to double digits, and then the two teams engaged in a long tug-of-war, and the Knicks led by 11 points at halftime 62-51.
In the rematch, Brother Alphabet and Lillard successively played a threat, and the Knicks trio Brunson, Barrett and Randle joined forces to respond, and finally the Knicks avenged the Bucks 129-122, ending the latter's seven-game winning streak.
The Bucks' dual-core "cousin" combination performed well, in which Brother Alphabet played 38 minutes, shooting 13-of-24, scoring a team-high 32 points, plus 13 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, and scoring 17 points in the third quarter.
Lillard did his best, playing 37 minutes and 50 seconds, shooting 10-of-21 from the field and scoring a team-high 32 points, plus 1 rebound, 8 assists and 1 steal.
Middleton, the team's third core, also performed remarkably, playing 33 minutes with 10 of 20 shots, 4 of 9 three-point shots, 24 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal, with a plus/minus of +9 and the highest on the team.
Unfortunately, the Bucks' two-core "cousin" cut 64 points, 14 assists and 14 rebounds in a comprehensive stat that could not help the team win, because Brunson played better.
Brunson played 37 minutes in the game, scoring a game-high 38 points on 15-of-28 shooting, plus 6 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 steal to capture his "cousin".
Considering that the All-Star is just around the line, Brunson's matchup with Lillard is actually a competition between potential All-Star guards, and the competition for All-Star guards in the East has been fierce this season, with Lillard, Brunson, Haliburton, Maxey, Trae Young, White and Mitchell all reasonable candidates.
It is not difficult to see from the data that the Bucks did not lose in the performance of their core players, but the limited strength of the bench lineup.
Especially after the introduction of Lillard, the defensive system that the Bucks relied on to survive collapsed, so the Bucks are also actively strengthening it.
According to Marc Stein of The Athletic, the Bucks are interested in trading for veteran PJ Tucker, and the Heat are also interested in acquiring him.
Tucker has two years left on his contract and is worth $11 million this season, with a player option worth $11.54 million next season.
Since joining the Clippers, Tucker's role has been rapidly compressed, playing in just 12 games, averaging only 12 points 24 rebounds 07 assists 05 steals, 27 three-point shooting3%。
Tucker was then DNP by Tyronn Lue, and Tucker has not played any minutes in the past 13 games, and Tucker has publicly stated on several occasions that he wants to join a team that needs him.