NBA Game Notes: Drama abounds in Philadelphia and Milwaukee

Notes from: MIL-CHI, OKC-POR, MEM-PHI and some scattered thoughts too

Every home team won on Wednesday night, minus the banged-up Phoenix Suns. There were no wild finishes, which is a rarity in this young season. But drama still rules the day for the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks.

Here’s what I saw on Wednesday!

Chicago Bulls - 106 at Milwaukee Bucks - 122

• Giannis Antetokounmpo is turning in one of his better offensive seasons. He’s been completely dominant on that end of the floor. The challenge is that Antetokounmpo can only do so much. The Bucks haven’t had consistency around him this season. The other Bucks play great or terribly, but it’s in groups of two or three. Weird season.

• Not a note from this game, but the Khris Middleton report about being cleared, but ramping up seemed a bit odd. Sounds like Middleton has been cleared for a while now, but still feels like he’s not quite ready. Given how much Milwaukee needs him, let’s hope he’s back soon.

• Damian Lillard did a nice job shifting into playmaker mode when his jumper wasn’t falling. Chicago also did a nice job keeping size on Lillard. As he’s aged, he’s not able to blow by bigger defenders the way he once was, so size bothers him more than it used to.

• Very good game from A.J. Green. He hit several shots to hold off runs from the Bulls. Considering Green has mostly been a spot-up/catch-and-shoot guy, it was nice to see him come off this DHO action and knock down the pullup, even with the defender trailing fairly close by:

• Gary Trent Jr. seems to be finding his shot again. Another solid outing from him.

• Bulls couldn’t find any offensive consistency, outside of Zach LaVine. Nikole Vucevic struggled some inside and his shot wasn’t falling.

• Josh Giddey has to figure things out. He was better defensively in this game and did a good job when he picked up Damian Lillard. But Milwaukee did a good job directing the ball to Giddey, especially late in the clock. The lack of shooting was glaring.

• Chicago’s lack of size showed up. Patrick Williams isn’t a dominant rebounder or rim protector, but he’s at least got legitimate forward size. A slew of small-ball combinations didn’t really work for the Bulls.

Portland Trail Blazers - 99 at Oklahoma City Thunder - 109

• Isaiah Hartenstein returned and made an immediate impact. He was dominant on the boards on both ends. Hartenstein was also very good defensively. And you can already see how he’s going to work with the Thunder ballhandlers in the DHO and pitch games.

• Jalen Williams is a special player. One of the biggest improvements he’s made is his patience. This is a good play design from Oklahoma City. They want to get Jerami Grant off Williams, but they don’t want him picked up the athletic and bigger Shaedon Sharpe either. So, Williams works with the double screen to draw Scooter Henderson. From there, Williams takes one extra dribble to his left to keep Donovan Clingan on that side, then he crosses over and finishes the runner over the smaller Henderson:

• The Thunder just hit you guards and wings over and over and over. You could see that depth really wore down the inexperienced Blazers ballhandlers as the game went along.

• Before exiting with an injury, Scoot Henderson looked pretty solid. The shot remains a work in progress, but Henderson is rapidly improving as a playmaker. This was a nice drive-and-kick through some traffic to set up Jerami Grant:

• Donovan Clingan did a nice job in this game. He was a little like a fish out of water having to defend on the perimeter so much. But Clingan had a couple of nice finishes and stuck a no-hesitation corner three.