The Milwaukee Bucks came out of the All-Star break riding the momentum of their prior contests, going 5-1 heading into the break with new contributors joining the roster. Headlined by Cam Thomas and Ousmane Dieng, the Bucks were finally starting to look like a quality team around Giannis Antetokounmpo.

However, heading into their first game out of the break against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Bucks must still battle to stay afloat without Giannis on the court, but this new-look group proved on Friday night that they can stack together wins for the time being. And on Friday night, they inched closer to the playoff picture.

Seven Bucks finished Friday night with double-digit points, with four of those players coming off the bench, as Milwaukee handed the Pelicans a 139-118 loss.

It was a massive game from Milwaukee's guard trio of Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter Jr, and Cam Thomas. Porter Jr. finished with 25 points and a team-high seven assists, while Rollins and Thomas each had 27 points.

For Rollins, his work on Friday came from the three-point line, shooting 7-of-10 from long-range, making the most threes in a game in his career. He's been wildly overlooked in the Most Improved Player conversation, but he deserves his flowers for averaging around 17 points per game and being a facilitator as well.

As for Thomas, he's shown up in Milwaukee and done what everyone wanted him to do: score the basketball. Thomas' defense will always be an area he is criticized for, but if Milwaukee can put him in the right situation, he can be a stellar sixth man for them this season, and potentially beyond that.

Forward's Ousmane Dieng and Pete Nance got in on the action as well, both finishing with 10 points. Dieng came over at the trade deadline and is starting to show why the Oklahoma City Thunder spent a first-round draft selection on him. He still needs a lot of reps to develop, but could be a starting forward for this team in the future.

As for Nance, he's on a two-way contract, but is showing as of late that he should be a player who is converted to a standard player and plays in Milwaukee for the long term.

The Bucks will now head home to face the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, a game that won't be easy as Toronto holds the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. Led by their All-Star duo of Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram, Milwaukee will need everything they can get from their supporting cast to try to pull out a win.

Regardless, the Bucks end Friday now in striking distance of jumping back into the play-in tournament seeding over the next few games.