Milwaukee Bucks 120-108 New Orleans Pelicans

It's hardly news that the Bucks, first in the whole league, beat the Pelicans, the twelfth in the West. This game at the Smoothie King Center on Tuesday was more about the contest between two of the most talented players in today's league, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Zion Williamson.

In the end, Antetokounmpo was the winner of both the game and individual performance. He dropped 34 points, 17 rebounds, and six assists at a field goal rate of 70.6 percent (12-17), beating Williamson's 20 points, seven rebounds, and five assists that came from 5-19 in field goals.

In fact, though Williamson showed his remarkable physical talents by dunking over 2.13-meter-tall Brook Lopez in the game, Milwaukee's defense took good care of him. When Antetokounmpo defended Williamson, the 19-year-old genius was only 1-6 and committed two turnovers.

"I mean, he's a former MVP. It's like going up against any great player. Do as much as you can to slow him down. I mean, he's his own player; he brings his own style to the game. That's why he's Giannis," said Williamson after the game.

"It's amazing. I'm happy that he's out there. I'm happy that he's healthy. I'm happy that he's able to be out there and help his team win and compete with his team. It's going to be a duel for a lot of years, so it's good playing against him," said Antetokounmpo.

There are two things that Pelicans' head coach Alvin Gentry should learn from Tuesday's game. First, Williamson is great as he managed to earn 14 free throws in front of the Bucks' solid defense, but he will be greater if he does not have to share the court with Derrick Favors.

The following stats might help prove it. When Williamson and Favors were together on the court in the first quarter, Williamson only scored two points in six minutes; when he was alone and played as a small-ball squad center in the second quarter, he got six points in five minutes. The same scenario repeated itself later: Williamson had four points in the 10 minutes he paired with Favors but scored eight points in the six minutes when he was alone on the court in the fourth quarter.

Favors is a really good player and the best defender of the Pelicans. However, he and Williamson share the same problem – lack of shooting range. Let's take Tuesday's game; for example, when they were both on the court, Lopez was on Favors, and Antetokounmpo was on Williamson. When Williamson managed to shake off the Greek Freak, he still had to face the help defense from Lopez. Nonetheless, when Williamson played as the center, the only thing between him and the Bucks' rim was the center that defended him.

In fact, when Williamson was paring Favors, his offensive rating is 25 (meaning he could get 42 points in 100 possessions); when he's alone, Williamson's rating is 42 – by the way, Antetokounmpo's offensive rating is 45.

The other thing that deserves more attention from Gentry is that Brandon Ingram is still the team's most reliable guy. The "Slender Man" from Duke went 12-19 in FGs to get 32 points and seven rebounds. Unlike Favors, Ingram could drain 2.5 triples at a rate of 40.2 percent per game this season. His long limbs, big step, and high leaping all helped make his pull-up shots more unstoppable. Considering that Williamson currently is more of a finisher, putting him and Ingram together in the court may be the best offensive option of New Orleans.

Portland Trail Blazers 99-127 Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets claimed their third straight victory over the Trail Blazers this season and put an end to the three-straight-win-streak at the Pepsi Center.

Denver's Nikola Jokic again showed his dominance by dropping 29 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists. He went 3-4 from the 3-point line to get 15 points, five rebounds and four assists in the first quarter. By contrast, Portland's Hassan Whiteside only got eight points and five rebounds in the whole game. Foul trouble followed him all the time and tied his hands painfully tightly.

Jamal Murray returned for the Nuggets on Tuesday after a 10-game absence. Though he was only given 19 minutes on the court, Murray used his time efficiently and was 6-9, including draining three triples and five free throws to get 20 points.

The other two from Denver's starting-lineup, Jerami Grant and Will Barton were also sharp from the 3-point line as they went 7-9 from there. On the one hand, Portland are one of the worst teams in defending 3-pointers; on the other hand, allowing such a high 3-point rate also crashed the team's defensive system that's built on big center staying in the paint.

Damian Lillard, who averaged 51.4 points and 10.0 assists in the five games before Tuesday, finally stopped his epic performance. It took him 23 shots to score 21 points in Tuesday's game. The rest of the Trail Blazers were not much better as they only had 10 points in the second quarter. Trailing by 26 points (64-38) was simply too hard to catch up.

C.J. McCollum put down 20 points and three 3-pointers, but the rest of Portland's starting-lineup were too disappointing: Whiteside only had eight, Trevor Ariza got five, and Carmelo Anthony missed all his five shots to score only two points via free throws.

The Trail Blazers currently have played one more game than West's No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies and trailed by 2.5 games. With some 30 games to go, the rest of the team must contribute more to help Lillard before they can compete for a playoff spot.

Other games on Tuesday (home teams in bold):

San Antonio Spurs 102-129 Los Angeles Lakers

Charlotte Hornets 110-125 Houston Rockets