PODCAST and Bucks Stock Market: Giannis dominates the Lakers in Khris Middleton's return.

It wasn't the smoothest win, but the Milwaukee Bucks will certainly take it nonetheless.

It seems like Giannis Antetokounmpo really enjoys beating up on the Los Angeles Lakers, as he re-stated his best in the world case by putting up 47 points on Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook and company (sans LeBron James) in a needed home win for the Milwaukee Bucks.

We broke down the game in detail on the Gyro Step podcast, including how nice it was to have playmaking Khris Middleton back in the lineup, the struggles of Jrue Holiday and Semi Ojeleye, and other notes on the Bucks (plus some shots at the Lakers).

We also loudly yelled about crunchy peanut butter's superiority. Somehow this became a debate on Bucks Twitter, which makes no sense because creamy peanut butter is baby food.

The Bucks Stock Market is a fictitious market run by the GSPN crew that tracks player stock “movement” following the conclusion of every game. Here’s the spreadsheet logging the game-by-game results.

The Milwaukee Bucks really needed this game. After dropping their last two games, the Bucks started a five-game home stand against the LeBron-less Lakers and needed to make a statement. With their second best player in Khris Middleton returning to the fold, Giannis and the Bucks held off the ghosts of Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony to get the win. Let’s get into the movements!

Giannis Antetokounmpo 📈📈

He’s officially back in the MVP picture. I mean, technically he never truly left, but he needed a massive performance to get more attention on him and he freaking went out and did it. 47 points against a defender who people like to think is better than Giannis overall (lol), and just put it on the Lakers from start to finish.

Khris Middleton 📈

After missing the last ten games due to the Health and Safety Protocols, Khash finally made his return to the court against the Lakers. Listen, I know he didn’t shoot very well, but his impact as a ball handler and playmaker was impeccable. He’s the best pick and roll operator on the team, and that

Jrue Holiday📉

Jrue, my guy, just make your layups. If you made your layups, it would be a lot easier to ignore how inefficient you have been on the offensive end for the last few weeks. Jrue is an elite player, don’t get me wrong, but his affliction to attempting to shoot himself out of a slump is painful to watch.

Semi Ojeleye📉

What an abysmal performance for Semi. I know I have been critical of him in the past, but there is no denying that he was not great on either end of the court. On offense, he was clogging lanes and making boneheaded plays like taking post fades when Giannis is being guarded by Russell Westbrook. Defensively, he was okay at times, but he still cannot play as a big in terms of positional awareness or rebounding.

The Bucks continue their home stand on Friday against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder.