Tied at 11 near the start of the first quarter. Giannis has already missed a 3 and missed his first FT (drew iron but way off to the side).
He has to get the FT stuff worked out as it's a huge issue not only because of the recent struggles, but because of the "ladder incident"
He's now 8 for his last 27 from the line.
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Bucks down 32-30 after one. Blazers shoot almost 60% on a lot of contested mid-range jumpers.
Giannis did finally hit a FT, but he missed the front end by barely drawing iron and then made the back end by hitting the front rim and getting a very lucky bounce.
Shooters roll. 
I've never understood how some players are so bad at FT's.
The only thing I can come up with the size of their hands must make it difficult.
I remember shooting with mini's and size 3 and 4's and it was tough.
Giannis with more FTs. Not good. Badly short on the first, but does hit the second.
Giannis can't hit FTs but is hitting some nice mid-range 17 footers from the top. 3 for 3 tonight.
Dumb play by Ibaka. Obvious foul, probably a flagrant one. Potential momentum changer.
Wish the game was on here. Watching the Pelicans annihilate Golden State, 93-61 with 3:28 left in the 3rd Quarter. No Curry, Thompson, Wiggins or Draymond Green for GSW, tonight.
Giannis now 2 for 7 from the line. Not consistent with the type of miss at all.
And then comes back and hits his 4th 17 footer in a row.
10 for his last 35 is a problem for Giannis from the line.
Giannis gets clotheslined and his neck grabbed and it's just a common foul?
Everything going well except Giannis is 4 for 11 from the line. Up 14 going to the 4th
Lead falls from 17 to 11 as Holiday starts the 4th quarter with some terrible play
Holiday with an early shot clock 3 miss and 3 turnovers on 4 consecutive possessions.
8 point lead.
Bucks never led by less than 8 in the 4th quarter. Giannis with 37-7-6. Lopez with 5 blocks.
Good to see Connaughton back and Holiday get going in the middle of the 4th after a rough start.
Only blemish was Giannis going 5 for 12 from the line. Cost him a 40 point game this time. 13 for his last 40. Now under 57% from the line for the year.
Just win, baby.
The Bucks are 12-4 without Middleton, with Holiday missing games or being less than 100%, and with Giannis missing games, being dinged up, and cratering from the FT line.
Last year, the Bucks started much slower - at one point they were 6-8. They were missing Middleton and Holiday for some of those games as well, but had Giannis for most of them.
The difference between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 starts is Brook Lopez. He's only their 4 best player, but is just as irreplaceable in terms of what he does for their scheme as the Big 3. In fact, you could argue you are better off with 2 of the big 3 playing with Lopez than with all 3 playing without him.
Going into the year, I thought this would be his last year, but he's been their best player in many games this year. He leads the league in blocked shots and is 39 for 100 from three. He also is one of the only guys in the league that can handle (or at least slow down) Embiid one on one.
Lopez clearly has been a major factor in their hot start. No question about it. But I also don’t think he was healthy last year. He looks about 10 years younger this season.
Jevon Carter has also played very well all things considered.
It’s pretty crazy to think they haven’t had Middleton at all and Holiday has missed half the games and even Giannis has missed a few (and a lot of FTs) and they are 12-4.
