Milwaukee Bucks: Khris Middleton’s three best games of the season so far

3. January 10, 2020 – Middleton leads the Milwaukee Bucks to victory in a slow night for Giannis

Part of being a great No. 2 is knowing when you need to step up for the top dog and on January 10, Middleton proved that he can carry the workload when Giannis has an off night. The 6-foot-7 forward used his veteran savvy by forcing switches off of screens and manipulating defenders into fouls.

Early in the game, he was guarded by veteran small forward Trevor Ariza, who was coerced into foul trouble early, forcing Kings coach Luke Walton to make an adjustment. Later in the game, once it was clear that Khris had the hot hand, he drew the coverage of third-year point guard De’Aaron Fox — A respected defender in his own right. Still, Middleton took advantage of his four-inch height advantage in that matchup, drawing fouls on Fox and using his fancy footwork to create space to take his shots.

Despite foul trouble from Giannis and a poor 3-point shooting night from his teammates, Middleton turned in one of his most efficient games of the year. He finished with 27 points, 11 boards, four assists and two steals in just under 29 minutes. It only took him 12 shots including nine makes and 8 makes on 11 shots from the charity stripe.

Antetokounmpo finished -8, the worst Plus/Minus on the team, while Middleton ended up +12 with the highest usage rate on the team besides Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who played two minutes and 40 seconds in garbage time. Middleton had flashier games with higher scoring totals and statistical outputs, but the fact that he led the team on one of the few occasions when Giannis couldn’t get it going is telling of his importance to Milwaukee’s title hopes.