JR Radcliffe

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The 2018-19 season was a huge success for the Milwaukee Bucks, and though the season will almost certainly be remembered for the games ahead in the playoffs, take a look back at the regular season with our ranking of all 82 contests.

Perhaps the Bucks’ worst game of the season. Without Giannis, Milwaukee shot 32.6 percent at home, though it was the team’s first game with Nikola Mirotic in a Bucks jersey (he didn’t play).

With both LeBron and Giannis sitting out (hope you didn’t pay too much for those tickets, Milwaukee), the Bucks swept the Lakers for a second straight year.

Giannis was held largely in check on just 4 of 7 shooting, and the red-hot Pacers won a fifth straight game.

With Giannis out, the Bucks took a discouraging loss on the road against a team that had lost its superstar, John Wall, for the season. Washington hit 18 three-pointers.

Dallas made 22 three-pointers to tie a franchise record, but still it wasn’t enough against the Bucks, who won for a sixth straight game (and registered wins in every one of those games by double digits).

The Bucks’ second loss of the year came thanks to CJ McCollum, who scored 27 of his 40 points in the second half and provided a dubious kickoff to a four-game West Coast trip.

Milwaukee led from start to finish and moved to 5-0 for the first time since 1971, leading by as many as 34 points in the second half. The Timberwolves were a train wreck after Jimmy Butler’s trade request.

Numerous regulars sat, although there was some buzz in the regular-season finale with Aaron Rodgers in the house and the team monitoring the scoreboard to learn its first-round playoff foe.

The Bucks won again big over the Hawks, this time on the road, with Giannis returning from a one-game absence and the Bucks bouncing back from a loss to the Wizards.

A ho-hum victory, though it did give the Bucks an even 60 wins and also featured a pretty great dunk from Giannis over Alex Len.

Tensions flared between the two teams, but Milwaukee wrapped up the season series with the Knicks, where Giannis scored 24 of his 31 points in the second half.

The Bucks rested Malcolm Brogdon and Eric Bledsoe in the fourth quarter, and Khris Middleton didn’t play after being benched three days earlier (though it wasn’t related), but the Bucks won going away thanks to Bledsoe’s 27 points in three quarters of work.

With Giannis sidelined by a sore knee, Milwaukee still had enough in the tank thanks to Khris Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon.

Much healthier than in the preceding meeting between the two teams four days earlier, the Bucks made things look very different with a convincing victory. Brook Lopez set the NBA record for most 3-pointers by a 7-footer in the game, reaching 176 and breaking the old mark of 172 (set by Channing Frye in 2009-10).

With the Bucks facing their first real dose of adversity in the season in the wake of a long-term injury to Malcolm Brogdon (plus several other injuries), Collin Sexton had a huge game and the hot Cavaliers team took down the Bucks at Quicken Loans Arena.

Giannis was on fire, scoring 44 points with 14 rebounds and setting the tone with an opening dunk as the Bucks held off a feisty Cavs team without Khris Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon available.

The Bucks simply couldn’t get shots to fall on a grueling back-to-back, marking a sixth straight loss to the Heat (more than atoned for with three straight subsequent wins). The Bucks scored just 8 points in the first quarter.

Despite an injury scare for Giannis (concussion), Milwaukee won on a back-to-back with Toronto in the near future, and the Bucks moved to 6-0 with the Raptors headed to town two days later.

Pau Gasol returned to San Antonio as a member of the Bucks and a bat made an appearance, but the Bucks looked tired on the back end of a rugged schedule.

RELATED:A bat delayed the Bucks game in San Antonio on Sunday, and the Spurs mascot was ready to pounce

Pat Connaughton made 7 of 8 shots for 16 points to help the Bucks sweep the Pistons in the season series, and DJ Wilson also had another big game.

It will likely be remembered as Dwyane Wade’s last game in Milwaukee (the game itself wasn’t all that close).

RELATED:Iconic Dwyane Wade photograph taken in Milwaukee 'has a life of its own'

Every great team has a blind spot. The Bucks fell to Phoenix for the second time this season. The Phoenix Suns! Who might get the first pick in the 2019 NBA Draft! And it marked the first time any team had defeated the Bucks more than once this season. It also marked the first time all year the Bucks lost back-to-back games.

The Bucks went to 8-0 against teams that had beaten them the first time around, with Giannis scoring 37 points after missing the first meeting. His 17-for-17 performance at the free-throw line set a new single-game franchise record for free throws made without a miss.

Eric Bledsoe led the charge with a season-best 30 points and the Bucks won a fourth straight game.

Nikola Mirotic played against his former team, the Pelicans, but there wasn’t much drama to write home about other than the game was supposed to be Nikola Mirotic Bobblehead Night at the Smoothie King Center (the event was canceled).

The magic number to clinch the top overall seed in the East fell to 1, with the Bucks pulling away late. Khris Middleton was out for a second straight game, joining a long list of injured players.

The Bucks hit 14 three-pointers in the first half (a franchise record) and landed with 21 overall, with Giannis closing things out in the fourth quarter.

Mere days after the Bucks traded Matthew Dellavedova and John Henson to Cleveland for George Hill and Jason Smith, the Bucks handled the Cavs easily without Giannis.

In the last game before a series of road tests, the Bucks held Utah to 40 points in the second half and got a big boost from Thon Maker off the bench.

The Bucks were banged up but still topped the Celtics at TD Garden in Boston – though Boston was without Al Horford and Marcus Morris. It snapped a five-game losing streak in Boston.

The lights went out at Fiserv Forum, but it didn’t matter in perhaps the most comfortable and relaxing Bucks victory of the season.

It was about as dominating as it could get, with 22 threes and a series of Giannis jams to keep the crowd engaged. Though, really, the biggest story was someone naming 27 cheeses in 30 seconds.

RELATED:Mequon woman successfully names 27 cheeses in 30 seconds during Bucks in-game contest

The Bucks went on a 19-0 run to blow the game open in the second half, and Milwaukee moved to 6-0 facing teams that won the first battle.

Khris Middleton delivered in crunch time and Milwaukee moved to 3-0 for the first time since 2005.

The Bucks put together a 27-4 run in a 5 ½ minute stretch to turn a 15-point deficit into an 8-point lead, but the Grizzlies counter-punched to give the Bucks their first home loss of the season.

Brook Lopez returned to the post and scored 25 points on 7 of 11 shooting in a win that gave Milwaukee a cool 50 victories for the first time since 2000-01.

With the Bucks ownership team on hand in New York (and joined by Bill Clinton!), Milwaukee handled one of the best home teams in the East to close out a five-game road trip with a fourth straight win.

Milwaukee’s first look at Luka Doncic featured a reunion of brothers, with Dallas reserve Kostas Antetokounmpo never getting into the game to face his brother. But it was also Dirk Nowitzki’s (presumed) last appearance in Milwaukee, while Brook Lopez notched his first double-double of the year.

With Giannis out, Milwaukee missed its chance to get a 60th win on the season when it fizzled out in the final minutes.

The Bucks made humorous use of Kawhi Leonard’s laugh over the sound system, but despite an animated crowd, the Raptors pulled away late.

Milwaukee romped in this one. "I didn't see this one coming," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I don't know if anyone in our locker room saw this one coming. This team has either been in the first spot or second spot in the league for the majority of the season and it's for a reason. ... It was just an onslaught."

It was a strange comeback for the Bucks, who struggled with Pelicans star Anthony Davis off the floor for much of the game with illness. When he returned, the Bucks seemed to spring to life. DJ Wilson hit back-to-back baskets to help the Bucks take control.

Giannis had a triple double, and maybe Thaddeus Young isn’t Giannis Kryptonite after all… The Bucks outscored Indiana in the fourth quarter, 30-18.

Giannis had a breakaway dunk that ignited the crowd and also earned him a technical, and the Bucks pulled away from there. Also, Tony Snell broke some ankles.

The Bucks couldn’t replicate their success in the paint from the teams’ first meeting and fell at Fiserv Forum.

The Bucks moved to 4-0 for the first time since 2001, scoring 49 points in the second quarter to take charge. Giannis became the first player since Wilt Chamberlain (1965) to open a season with four straight 25-point, 15-rebound games.

Milwaukee went down by as many as 17 points but reaffirmed a win one week earlier over the same squad in Denver, closing out one of the West’s best teams.

Bucks blew a big lead (13 points with under six minutes to go) and then wilted in overtime. Emmanuel Mudiay was a problem, and Mario Hezonja stepped over Giannis in a show of disrespect.

Shots stopped falling, including the final shot by Eric Bledsoe.

Say what? The Bucks lost to the worst team in the West, coming off a 43-point win over Portland. Jamal Crawford hit a shot with 0.8 seconds left to give the Bucks a puzzling loss.

The game was tense until the end, when Eric Bledsoe went on a personal 5-0 run to provide some breathing room. Brook Lopez’s slow-motion hammer dunk was the final cherry on top to cap a 12-0 run in the final moments at the United Center.

Happy New Year! Giannis put Jon Leuer on a poster and the Bucks started the new year with many of the elements that worked in the last one.

RELATED:The Book of Giannis: A catalog of Antetokounmpo's best plays with the Milwaukee Bucks

Paul George was simply on fire for the Thunder, finishing with 36 points to simply keep the Bucks from getting a foothold.

With the Bucks missing its guards, they still almost defeated the Jazz with a lineup full of bigs, led by 43 points from Giannis. It represented a collapse, in fact, when the Bucks blew a 17-point lead with just under 10 minutes to go.

Giannis went down with an ankle injury late that hushed the Fiserv Forum crowd, but it was a big win on the same day that the Brewers won their season opener. It dropped Milwaukee’s magic number to 2 to clinch the overall best seed in the East.

Down 12 with 9:36 to play, the Bucks surged out of a timeout with Giannis at center in his first game since being named an All-Star captain the day before. The win put Milwaukee a full game ahead of Toronto in the Eastern Conference.

On a day it was announced that Eric Bledsoe had signed a contract extension, he had a hand in every point of a 16-3 run that helped the Bucks rally back from a double-digit deficit to topple LeBron and the Lakers at the Staples Center.

The DJ Wilson legend was born thanks to his defense on Blake Griffin in the final moments, and Khris Middleton (22 points) busted out of his slump to escape Little Caesars Arena with a victory. Wilson had 9 points in 26 minutes on 4 of 5 shooting.

An impressive win off a back-to-back, rebounding from a last-second loss to Phoenix the night before. The Bucks were down 10 with 7:20 to go, but Giannis (34 points, 18 rebounds, 8 assists) led the charge back.

The Bucks won convincingly in the days before Thanksgiving, allowing Bucks beat reporter Matt Velazquez to empty his arsenal of puns.

In a battle of MVP candidates, Giannis got the best of James Harden in a nationally televised game at Houston.

One of the most stirring turnarounds of the year, as the Bucks trailed by 18 points at halftime and looked well on their way to losing against one of the league’s worst teams and former Bucks player Jabari Parker, who had 17 points at the break. But Milwaukee’s 46-point third quarter (one more point than the entire first half) turned the game into the laugher the other way by the final buzzer.

Nothing lasts forever. The first loss of the season came in a game that Boston led for most of the way, thanks to a franchise record 24 3-pointers. For the moment, Boston looked like the team to beat in the East (LOL).

Milwaukee won a battle of undefeateds and matched their best start in franchise history at 7-0, even though both Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks and Kawhi Leonard of the Raptors were held out.

Khris Middleton hit a huge 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds on the clock to account for the winning points at Fiserv Forum.

The Bucks played on Christmas Day for the first time in 41 years, and Giannis delivered a strong showing at Madison Square Garden.

Kemba Walker (41 points) couldn’t quite make the final shot in the season opener, and the Bucks started the year 1-0.

Milwaukee’s first game at Fiserv Forum turned out to be a big hit. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Adam Silver were there to open the new arena.

A huge win in Toronto that gave Bucks control of the season series (and the tiebreaker), and it clinched Mike Budenholzer as coach of Team Giannis in the All-Star Game.

The first game after the all-star break was a tense one, ending on a play where Kyrie Irving’s miss at the buzzer sealed the victory (and a couple missed calls on both ends became conversation topics).

On 90s night, where Ja Rule famously made an appearance, the Bucks pulled away in the fourth quarter to eclipse their win total from the previous year … all before March 1

RELATED:Twitter took shots after Ja Rule's Bucks game halftime show. Giannis took shots during it.

An overtime loss that finished when Lou Williams sank a floater with 0.3 seconds left after the Bucks were stuffed on their preceding possession.

With virtually every major player sitting out, the Bucks still almost beat the Hawks – taking a big lead before letting it slip away behind the efforts of Sterling Brown, Bonzie Colson and Tim Frazier. Even then, it took a circus putback by Trae Young at the overtime buzzer to lift Atlanta.

It was a big centerpiece of the MVP debate between James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo, though Eric Bledsoe stole the show to help the Bucks sweep the Rockets. And what was with that Harden ad in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel?

RELATED:James Harden makes his MVP case in full-page advertisement in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday

The Bucks scored 50 points in the first quarter, and Giannis finished with 43 points. It was the team’s most points in a quarter since Nov. 12, 1991, and the third-highest in franchise history. One day later, the club traded for Nikola Mirotic. In the waning seconds of the first quarter, fans at Fiserv Forum chanted "We want 50! We want 50!" and Milwaukee guard Malcolm Brogdon nailed a three-pointer for a 50-35 advantage that drew a loud roar from the fans.” The 85 first-half points was also the most in franchise history since March of 1979.

The greatest comeback of the year. The Bucks trailed by 20 at halftime but pulled out their first win in Miami since January of 2016 – and did so convincingly. It’s the first time in NBA history a team has trailed by 20 or more at halftime and gone on to win by 15 points or more. The win came with the cost of Malcolm Brogdon, however, who was lost with plantar fasciitis and hopes to be back in the playoffs.

With Giannis on a minutes limit, Eric Bledsoe and the Bucks won a thriller in overtime. Bledsoe recorded a triple-double and made a huge defensive play.

A wildly entertaining battle between two clear-cut playoff teams, with Joel Embiid outshining a career-high 52 points from Giannis (along with 16 rebounds). Embiid had 40 points and 15 rebounds on St. Patrick’s Day.

It was the win that clinched the top spot in the East, featuring a late flourish and 45 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo in a fascinating tete-a-tete with Joel Embiid. The Bucks were down Eric Bledsoe, ejected early in the game with two technicals, and still found a way to defeat a team that hit 50 percent of its threes. It was a soaring late-season win for the Bucks.

If the Bucks weren’t already on the national radar, this was the point when they truly arrived, giving a shellacking to the defending NBA champs in their own arena.

In a back-to-back to cap a four-game West Coast swing, Milwaukee nonetheless showed impressively in a win over perhaps the Western Conference’s best team, staging a gutty fourth-quarter comeback to bounce back from an overtime loss to the Clippers one night earlier. Brook Lopez hit eight 3-pointers.

Malcolm Brogdon buried a couple of huge 3-pointers in the final 1:07 (and added a steal) as Milwaukee won a highly anticipated rematch between the two teams in Toronto.

JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.