No Giannis, no Khris, Bucks still take down the Clippers at Fiserv. Related: Has Doc Rivers saved the Bucks?

Live look at me starting to believe in the Bucks’ title hopes again:

Can I be honest about something? If you offered be $5 million dollars I don’t think I could solve a long division equation anymore.

Can I be honest about something else? At the All Star break, I would have given the Bucks about a 1% chance of winning an NBA championship this season. I know I always present a hopeful message when it comes to the Bucks/Packers/Brewers, but I’m not sure I even believed it as it related to the Bucks. Any positive message I was delivering about this team prior to February 23rd was a hollow message. Sort of like when you tell a kid they, ‘can be anything they want to be when they grow up.’ Sure, sure.

But since the All Star break?? This team looks completely different. I couldn’t tell you what specifically Doc changed in terms of the defensive scheme, but it passes the eye test. They are popping out on everything, they are challenging every pass and shot, they are communcating and rotating effectively. Sure they still have their breakdowns, those are unavoidable in the modern NBA, but in the 19 game post-Adrian Griffin sample size, the Bucks have the 2nd best defense in the league. And they have the best defense in the league during their 6 game winning streak post-All Star break.

Now do I expect those types of rankings to continue for the rest of the season? I’m not sure I do. But here’s the thing: They don’t have to be that good defensively. Don’t get me wrong, I will be elated if this continues, but if they can simply maintain the level of effort that we’ve been seeing since Griffin was fired, they’re going to be just fine. With the offensive talent this team possesses, if they can just be 10th-15th in terms of defensive efficiency, they’re going to be in a good spot.

Which leads us to last night: No Giannis, no Middleton, and a title-contending Clippers team at Fiserv Forum. With Kawhi, Harden, and Paul George all playing for Los Angeles, you figured it was going to be a blowout loss once Giannis was ruled out. But this reinvigorated Bucks team took up the challenge. They hung around, never fell behind by TOO much (worst deficit was 15 in the 3rd quarter), and stayed frisky all night. Dame was Portland Dame (41 points on 54% shooting), Bobby started knocking down shots, and Patrick Beverley led a suddenly stout defense. Before you knew it the Bucks were within a possession or two, and Fiserv Forum was starting to sound like the Bradley Center during a playoff game.

Dame gave the Bucks the lead in the 4th quarter, and then AJ Green, AJ GREEN, canned a logo-three to give them a 5-point lead:

After that the floodgates opened and the Bucks rolled to another win. Arguably their best win of the season given the circumstances. Hell, you could argue it’s their biggest win of the last TWO seasons given the circumstances.

Now the schedule does not let up for the remainder of the month. They embark on a 4-game West Coast swing starting in Golden State on Wednesday, they’ve still got matchups with the Thunder and Pelicans and Suns, and two more matchups with a Celtics team that looks like a freight train (48-12 on the season). But for the first time this season, we’re starting to see potential become reality. And if the defense continues to improve, and Giannis/Khris/Dame are all healthy come playoff time, I’m starting to buy-in that this team can hang with ANYONE in a best-of-7. Praise be to Doc.

PS: Didn’t love the way Giannis’ warm-up looked last night before he was ruled out:

Keeping in mind that we once saw Giannis’ knee bend at a 90-degree angle the opposite way, and he was back playing in the Finals 6 days later, I will choose to believe that he’s going to be fine in a few days.