The Milwaukee Bucks beat the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 137-129 at the Fiserv Forum on Thursday, achieving their sixth straight victory and rising to No. 1 in the Eastern Conference. Giannis Antetokounmpo struggled with his shooting but still made the 16th triple-double in his career of 24 points, 19 rebounds and career-high 15 assists.

As Hassan Whiteside sat on this game, the Trail Blazers were unprecedentedly weak from the inside. In fact, the Bucks took good use of this and led in rebounds (58-41), second-chance points (27-9), and points in the paint (64-38). It was almost a little mystery that the game had not become a foregone conclusion in the first two or three quarters.

Portland's great perseverance contributed to that. As we have talked about before, the team grew extremely reliant on isolation play in offense this season. However, when players had incredible touch, isolation was also one of the most efficient scoring methods.

C.J. McCollum made 15 of his 29 shots, including five 3 from downtown to get 37 points. The whole team buried in total 17 3-pointers at the rate of 43.59 percent. Skal Labissiere was on fire in the middle range. He made eight shots within the 3-point line, only of one them was in the paint. In fact, it was his continuously scoring performance via perimeter shots that kept the game from becoming a blowout early in the first quarter.

The Bucks had themselves to blame. Perhaps they did not take the Trail Blazers seriously. The Bucks did not remain completely focused in the game and had several absent-minded periods during which the opponents launched scoring runs to catch up.

Carmelo Anthony continued to start for Rip City. Coach Terry Stotts gave him longer time (28 minutes) on the court and Anthony scored 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the game. He did better from the 3-poinline (3/5) and worked hard to grab two offensive rebounds. Nonetheless, Anthony was still not playing smart enough as he tried to challenge Antetokounmpo offensively in isolation (and failed). Moreover, committing three turnovers for four assists was not pretty either.

Maybe Booker should play more selfishly

The New Orleans Pelicans won their third consecutive game as they defeated the Phoenix Suns 124-121 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena. Three players of the visiting team – J.J. Redick, Jrue Holiday and Brandon Ingram – contributed 20+points.

The New Orleans Pelicans won their third consecutive game as they defeated the Phoenix Suns 124-121 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena. Three players of the visiting team – J.J. Redick, Jrue Holiday and Brandon Ingram – contributed 20+points.

Holiday was still the team's best slasher and most powerful weapon against the rim. He made eight of 13 shots in the paint, scoring 16 points in this area. Besides his offensive contribution, defense was Holiday's battlefield, too. The twice-All-Defensive guard did a good job of neutralizing the Suns' perimeter assault in spite of the Pelicans' vulnerable defense in general.

Ingram was the team's hero in the last quarter. Not only did he shoot down 28 points, the highest on the court, 15 of them happened in Q4 and more importantly, the 22-year-old young man scored all of the Pelicans' nine points. His aggressive driving against the rim and decisive shooting were both telling how different he was from himself in the Los Angeles Lakers.

Compared with New Orleans, Phoenix seemed to lack a specific offensive plan. Kelly Oubre Jr. put down 25 points, the highest of the team but his field goal rate of 41.2 percent (7/17) was not reliable enough. However, the team's best scorer Devin Booker, the youngest 70-point player in NBA history, only tried 14 shots to get 19 points.

Having played all 14 games for the Suns, Booker shot 20+times (including 20) only in four of them. He deserved praising for being more patient and more careful with his shooting choice but sometimes he restrained himself too much. The Suns were happy with his high efficiency of getting 25.4 points at a field goal rate of 53.4 percent, a 3-point rate of 50 percent and a free throw rate of 93.8 percent, but what they needed was the Booker who could drop 40+ or even 50+ points when he wanted to. Limiting his shooting attempts won't help him do that because shooting touch is not magic and won't come just because he is desperate for it.