The Milwaukee Bucks are currently the best team in the NBA with an impressive record of 48-18 and winners of their last 19 of 20 games.
They do have the best player in the league on their team in Giannis Antetokounmpo, however, there is an unsung hero this season that not many folks outside of Milwaukee are talking about.
Let’s start here – Where would this team be without Brook Lopez?
A combination of the big 3 in Giannis, Jrue and Middleton have missed a total of 69 games this season while Brook has only missed 1 game, playing 65 out of the total 66 games so far -And, oh, by the way, he’s turning 35 years old next month while playing in his 15th NBA season.
And, after dealing with a hand injury, Giannis did not suit up last night, and quite frankly, it did not matter. Brook Lopez had NINE blocks – Yes, NINE! While also adding 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
A high for the league this season in a single game and honestly, I’m not sure people are appreciating the greatness of Lopez this season – including myself.
This is nothing new though. This was just another night for Brook, who has been absolutely phenomenal and without him, this team is NOT sitting in the number seed in the Eastern Conference.
Now, Brook’s defense gets the praise, and it should, but his offense is seeing numbers it hasn’t seen in years as well.
Currently the big man is averaging 15.2 points per game while shooting almost 40% from three, which is a career-high for him and over 51% from the field.
Bottom line – This team may not win a title in 2021 without Brook, as great as the Big 3 were, and right now, they look primed to plan their second parade in three years in big thanks to Splash Mountain.
