Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks win over Thunder: Brook Lopez
We need to seriously start asking the question “did Brook Lopez have the greatest back surgery ever?” Lopez is off to an absolutely fantastic start to the season. A start that Bucks fans could have only dreamed of, because not only does he look like pre-injury Brook Lopez, he looks even better!
Splash Mountain is officially back, shooting 50 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from behind the 3-point line through the first nine games of the season for the Bucks. Both of those percentages are near his highest marks since he joined the Bucks. Not only Splash Mountain, but the Milwaukee Bucks announcers, Lisa Byington and Marques Johnson have taken to calling Brook Lopez “Smash Mountain” on the defensive side of the ball because of all the blocked shots Brook is racking up.
Brook Lopez scored just seven points in the win over the Timberwolves on Friday night and bounced back in a huge way Saturday, 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including 4-of-9 on 3-point tries. Despite six players in double figures for the Bucks, Lopez was the teams leading scorer.
Every time Lopez shoots an open three it feels like it’s going in, having witnessed the the Hawks game last Saturday in person I can confirm this feeling. Lopez also grabbed three rebounds and one each of an assist, steal and block. Brook Lopez has blocked at least one shot in every single game this season so far and is second in blocks per game with 2.56 per game, trailing Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers by just 0.04 for the league lead.
Brook Lopez will seek to continue his streak of blocking a shot in every game tonight against the Atlanta Hawks, a team that he recorded two blocks against and absolutely torched to begin the game in their first matchup, making seven straight shots to start.