(Author’s note: Remember how I reverse jinxed Serge Ibaka to a dominant performance over the Phoenix Suns in last week’s column? Well, who says lighting doesn’t strike twice? I wrote all of the following Sunday evening, flipped on Twitter, and the first thing I saw was that Brook will return to the starting lineup tonight against the Jazz. Let’s see if I can go three for three next week.)
Of all the throughlines to this Milwaukee Bucks season, the one that has been there since the very beginning of the campaign is the absence of Brook Lopez.