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MILWAUKEE — With less than 30 seconds to use Thursday night, the Milwaukee Bucks were holding on to a four-point lead over the Brooklyn Nets’ reserves, who had actually made a furious resurgence to return into the video game. The worried energy streaming through Fiserv Forum increased as David Duke Jr. sped towards the basket to attempt and make it a two-point video game.
Against any other group, versus any other challenger, he likely would have done so. But not versus Brook Lopez.
The Bucks’ Defensive Player of the Year prospect moved over at the last 2nd, extended his ideal arm and swiped Duke’s effort off the glass. A couple of seconds later on, Jevon Carter scored on the other end to efficiently seal the video game, and the Bucks made it through with a 118-113 success.
“Phenomenal,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer stated. “It was a close game and he made the plays that made the difference down the stretch.”
Lopez, who was manning the paint by himself due to the lack of Giannis Antetokounmpo, ended up with 24 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 9 blocks. His 9 rejections are the most in a single video game by any gamer considering that Rudy Gobert reached that mark on March 22, 2021.
About the only thing Lopez didn’t achieve versus the Nets was signing up the seventh triple-double with blocks in the league in the previous years. He did, nevertheless, state that he had such a video game in college while betting Stanford, though Joe Ingles fasted to mention that “doesn’t count.”
“I’m just trying to say all-time, I wasn’t gonna go to elementary school or something,” Lopez stated. “I played in the PAC-10. I wasn’t in some tiny conference. Gosh, Joe said he was gonna wait for the interview, too. He said he wanted to be here for this. Gosh.”
The Bucks remained in a joking state of mind in the locker space thanks in big part to Lopez’s most current protective masterclass that just enhanced his surprise Defensive Player of the Year case. Per Caesars Sportsbook, Lopez is now +100 to win the award, simply behind Memphis Grizzlies huge guy Jaren Jackson Jr., at -150.
Milwaukee has the third-best defense in the league at 109.6 points permitted per 100 belongings. With Lopez on the flooring their protective ranking drops to 106.9. The huge guy is 3rd in the league in blocks at 2.5 per video game, and challengers shoot simply 51.6 percent at the rim when he makes a contest.
At a particular point, you question why groups even continue to enter into the paint when Lopez is around.
“I guess I’m not gonna question it, right?” Lopez stated. “Whatever happens, if someone’s gonna come at the rim I’m gonna try to be there to stop them from putting the ball in the basket. That’s a pretty simple answer, I guess. That’s exactly what I try to do out there, but that’s the best way I can describe it.”
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