Despite the Bucks’ incredibly bad start, they still could’ve won this game if Aron “All of Australia” Baynes simply did not exist at all. A universe without Baynes would be significantly worse (for example, we wouldn’t have Tommy Heinsohn’s immortal quote about Baynes in the SHOWAH), but as of right now, it would be a lot better for me.
But we do live in a universe with Baynes in it, and he scored 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter to hold off Milwaukee. The Suns kind of slowed down in the second half (not by a lot, but by enough that the Bucks caught up a little bit), but Baynes wasn’t about to let them lose. Devin Booker was about to let them lose, Ricky Rubio was about to let them lose, but Baynes? Nuh uh.
Luckily, I was busy doing highlights so I didn’t get to (more like have to) watch Baynes crush the Bucks’ hopes. If I did, these words would be sounding a lot angrier. Even making this vid didn’t make me THAT angry. Only a little peeved. I enjoy Baynes too much to be really upset at him.
I’d say that this performance is a fitting followup to his 37-point bonanza (a performance which might be the best of the entire year for all players, all things considered). He’s hearkening back to the early days of the season where the Suns were winning a bunch of games and he was basically the entire reason for it because of how well he was playing.