Milwaukee played virtually no defense early on as the Blazers came out firing and aggressive. The hole they dug themselves would have been much deeper were it not for Ersan’s contributions. 16 points in the first quarter thanks in part to four made threes. He was key early, but gave way to the Udoh-Sanders front line late. Defense was a necessity and Ersan wasn’t really providing it. Still he led the Bucks in rebounds, because he always does.

The fourth quarter was a bit of a playground for him as he dropped 12 points to help finish off Portland. His 3-pointer with 6:33 left that put Milwaukee up 11 points after a broken play coming out of a timeout probably finished the Blazers off. We never saw the lead dip back into single digits after that.

He’s been distributing the ball pretty well for quite some time, like the entire season for the most part. But he hasn’t really been all that willing to let fly on the 3-point shots. When he has shot, he’s been off. He was willing and accurate on Saturday and it made a big difference. His 21 were a season high.

He didn’t score one time, but he made a big difference. When Joel Przybilla was out of the game, he was pretty much the closest guy left to being a center and he controlled the paint like one.

Dunks. Dunks, dunks, dunks. Six of them in all. Larry caught the ball around the hoop and finished with authority. The most important part of that sentence? Larry caught the ball around the hoop. He’s often had as much trouble doing that as his teammates have had finding him. Both he and his teammates were at their best at their respective jobs as it relates to his scoring on Saturday and it paid off handsomely.

A rare non-double digit rebounding game for Ilyasova. This was only the sixth time since February 1 that Ilyasova failed to grab 10 boards. Had he grabbed seven, eight or nine I would hardly be surprising, but to see Ilyasova grab just three rebounds was just crazy. He played on the wing a lot with the Knicks going small, so that played a role. More importantly, almost all of his boards came with about a minute to play. His two rebounds that led to four points late are what made this a win. As usual, he was in the right spot at the right time.

Is it just me, or is Drew Gooden almost always falling down? I don’t hate him for it. He’s providing a lot of effort on both sides, even if he isn’t the most sound defender. He’s incredibly physical and incredibly involved in every game. He’s a guy you’ll never have to worry about giving full effort.

A good time for Delfino to snap out of his recent shooting slump? How about when the Knicks come into town points in hand. After making just 2-14 threes over his past four games, Delfino punished the Knicks from outside, hitting 4-6 threes. To say the least, New York struggles with rotating out to open shooters. Just the cure Delfino was searching for I suppose.

Jennings seems to enjoy big crowds as much as he enjoys playing against the Knicks. The Knicks thing always seemed to be in part because of their point guard deficiencies, but even the mighty Jeremy Lin had some trouble with Jennings. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Jennings forcing things to assert his dominance over Lin, but he did a very good job of moving the ball and taking advantage of the opportunities that came to him.

At his finest. We saw him make shots over and over on Friday. He regularly made the Knicks pay for losing track of him. He moved the ball well too, as he almost always does. When New York got out to a hot start early, it was Dunleavy’s shooting and creation that kept the Bucks in the game. And his one-handed, catch the ball and head right into a layup motion was the highlight of the night for me.

He still makes a lot of mistakes, but it’s very fun to watch Sanders have a strong game. A flash out of him seems so much more enjoyable than a flash out of a Jon Leuer. I guess because Larry Sanders flashes result in thundering dunks or out-of-nowhere blocked shots. Good times. He really stuck to what he does well, especially after the first quarter. His force on the offensive glass, which included using some muscle and position rather than just jumping, was impressive too.

He started! And for the first two minutes, he looked good around the rim with a dunk and an offensive rebound. What started as a promising night quickly turned sour as he was benched quickly in favor of Mbah a Moute.

Another game of Delfino being handily outplayed at the wing. There was one moment where the cameras showed Delfino talking to Ilyasova on the sideline. I thought to myself, “How?” That’s also my thinking on Delfino’s play dropping from “sufficient” to “awful.” What did he do during the all-star break?

Another strong outing for Jennings who wasn’t shooting very well. So what did he do? He attacked the rim and got to the free throw line. That wasn’t something Jennings did very often in his first two seasons, so it’s good to see him grow.

Dunleavy was the engine that propelled the Bucks second quarter outburst with two threes and an assist in the second. After that, he was barely effective, missing two shots over the rest of the game.

Tobias Harris and Jon Leuer’s playing time has been taken by Moute for what reason? Moute didn’t exactly slow down the Magic offense. The Magic’s offensive efficiency for the game was a ridiculous 114.

Brockman found his niche on this team. Midway through the third quarter, Skiles had Brockman foul Dwight Howard the moment Howard crossed half court. It was mildly to not effective at all.

Still alive.

Great shooting night for Larry Sanders. That hasn’t been/won’t be said very often, so we have to take opportunities when we get them.

Again with 25 and 10? What has gotten into this guy. Double-doubles in five of his last seven games, better than 15 points per game over his last 10 games. Late game offensive put backs are becoming a regular thing, even when his teammates are lacking in energy. He’s hitting roughly 40% of his threes on the season too. He looks like he’s starting to take a big, giant step forward in terms of providing consistent production. If he had a real center next to him, I can only imagine how the Bucks front line would look right now.

I didn’t mean to knock Drew Gooden either. Credit him as much as you can for playing against the Celtics. In the locker room after Tuesday’s game, he literally could not bend over or have his back and neck do anything but be completely straight. Then he flew to Boston and played the next night. Better yet, he scored 23 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had to deal with Kevin Garnett all night. It still hurts the Bucks a lot that he isn’t much of a defender as an individual or as a team defender, but he’s a tough guy.

Both Jennings and Rondo had eight assists and two turnovers at one point.

That is where the comparisons end. Rondo controlled Boston’s offense, manipulated and moved through the Bucks defense, took chances and set his teammates up. Brandon Jennings passed the ball. That’s what he did. He dribbled the ball up the court and then he passed it. On rare occasions, he shot it. For a brief period in the fourth quarter, he looked great. Back-to-back threes always get our hopes up with Jennings.

Otherwise he did what every point guard in the D-League and every point guard that plays on a major college basketball team could have done. Meanwhile, Rondo finished with a triple double. Remember when there was some conversation about which one of them was an All-Star?

It’s funny what happens when the Wizards’ defense is swapped with the Celtics’ defense. Gone were those blow-bys for Brandon Jennings that led to kick outs to open shooters. Dunleavy attempted just one three s the Celtics had much more of an interest in rotating over to keep him from hanging out alone behind the arc. The Celtics physical play made him bubble over and pick up a technical late.

It’s cool when a guy you never know what you’ll see do plays well. But it’s hard to get excited for any random good game a guy like Larry Sanders has. It’s fine and all, but what does it matter? If he strings 10 or so together the way Ilyasova has started to do this season, then I’ll pay attention. But Scott Skiles had so little confidence in Sanders just last game that he didn’t even play. Forgive me if tonight’s performance doesn’t exactly leave me salivating over what could be.