SPORTS LINE
The Milwaukee Bucks proved just what they are capable of when they have all their top players available.
The Bucks took home a win against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points and a season-high 19 rebounds, Khris Middleton recorded his second career triple-double, and the Bucks trounced the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-93. This marked the first time since a Feb. 3 victory at Dallas that the Bucks had Antetokounmpo, Middleton and seven-time All-NBA guard Damian Lillard on the floor for the same game. Middleton had missed 16 straight games with a sprained left ankle and also sat a victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday due to injury management. Lillard also had a sprained left ankle that caused him to sit out two games in early February. Antetokounmpo returned Thursday after missing two games due to an issue with his left hamstring. The Bucks led 48-47 at halftime and broke open the game by outscoring Oklahoma City 18-2 in the first six-plus minutes of the third quarter. Oklahoma City didn’t make its first basket of the third period until Williams converted a layup with 5:38 left. Milwaukee had seven players score in double figures. Bobby Portis had 15, Lopez 14, Lillard, and Pat Connaughton 11 apiece and Jae Crowder 10.
Get ready for the Milwaukee Brewer’s first season without Craig Counsell.
Few teams in the National League endured an identity transformation more extreme this winter than the Brewers did. They lost Counsell as their head coach, along with a longtime executive, to an arch-rival. Despite the above, these Brewers still have a genuine chance to make their sixth postseason appearance in the last seven years. The Brewers made a few notable additions to their lineup this winter, signing Hoskins and Sánchez leading into the spring. Peralta, Miley, and Rea are what’s left standing from last year’s rotation. (Brandon Woodruff is expected to miss a chunk of the year following offseason surgery). You’ll note that Devin Williams, one of the best closers in baseball, is not listed. He’s expected to miss several months after being diagnosed with fractures in his back.
We haven’t designated anyone as Milwaukee’s closer in his absence. The Brewers really believe in Jackson Chourio. They signed him to a historic $82 million contract extension over the winter before he had so much as taken a big-league swing. Chourio, the breakout star of the 2022 minor-league season, is a dynamic talent. He’s the rare player who can launch opposite-field home runs with regularity, as well as put infielders in a blender on would-be routine grounders. The Brewers should be right in the thick of the National League Central race, according to most forecast models. We look forward to the start of the season with opening day at American Family Field on Tuesday, April 2nd.
If you went a little too wild with your picks this year projecting upsets and thinking March might be especially mad, then your bracket by now might very well be busted to smithereens.
March Madness arrived with visions of chaos. All eight top-two seeds are headed to the regional round for the fifth time. Last year’s Final Four was unlike any other, a bracket-busting foursome with no teams seeded better than No. 4 for the first time since the bracket expanded in 1979. Reigning national champion UConn has looked good in its bid to repeat this year. There wasn’t a dominant team during the regular season, opening the door for what was expected to be a wild NCAA Tournament. It didn’t happen.
The only true buzzer-beater was a tying 3-pointer by Texas A&M’s Andersson Garcia to force overtime against Houston. Purdue erased some of the disappointment of last year’s historic first-round flameout with a pair of lopsided wins, setting up a Sweet 16 matchup with a Gonzaga team back in the underdog role. Fellow No. 1 seeds North Carolina, UConn, and Houston also are through to the Sweet 16. The Cougars were the only ones tested, needing overtime to beat Texas A&M 100-95. No other game involving a No. 1 seed was less than 16 points. The Huskies entered the tournament as its No. 1 overall seed, and they’ve done nothing but back up that placement. They are favored to win the championship but only time will tell.
