Credit where credit is due: I had very few expectations that this Bucks team would be doing this well at this point in the season. Unlike my more optimistic (realistic?) colleagues on staff, I had figured age, injuries, and disinterest would combine to do our regular season in. While each has had a hand in some defeats along the way, we’re not old enough, beat up enough, or bored enough for the ship of state to start taking on significant water.
In honor of the East’s top seed nearly 75% of the way through the year, here are some things that are true that I didn't expect to be the case:
- Brook Lopez is not only serviceable after back surgery and a lost season — he looks the best he ever has in a Bucks uniform
- Joe Ingles cannot move laterally, but his combination of moxie, ability to read the floor, and insane fearlessness has kept him productive in the rotation
- Jon Horst was able to acquire a rotation-level guy in Jae Crowder for not much
- Giannis Antetokounmpo has sustained a career-high usage rate of 38.