With winter vastly approaching and snow beginning to fall, it is officially hunting season in the state of Wisconsin. Don’t get it twisted, however, as the deer are now the ones doing the hunting. If you turned on your television Thursday night and saw the Milwaukee Bucks put up 134 points in a blowout win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors, it surely wasn’t a dream. In one of the toughest buildings to play in the entire league, the Bucks weren’t phased and threw knockout punch after knockout punch en route to their second straight win at Oracle Arena. The Bucks, who lead the league with 15 made threes per game, used a different approach as they outscored the warriors 84-34 in points in the paint. As has been the case over the last few years, Milwaukee’s length and athleticism has presented a tough matchup for the Dubs and it was on display once again. Surely it has never been this daunting before, but new coach Mike Budenholzer has seemed to unlock something in this team that we’ve been waiting to see for some time now.
When you get a shiny new toy and take it out of the box, it’s always fun and exciting to play with until something happens to it or it breaks down or something else better comes along. Many feel that could be the narrative for this Bucks team that has now won nine of its first 11 games of the season with Budenholzer and his system being that shiny new toy. Only time will tell, but this team has seemed to buy in to what Bud and his staff is selling. Of course offense has been a big story with their run and gun style, but the key has been their sweltering defense. The cliché holds true: offense sells tickets but defense wins games. Coach Bud has instilled a defensive prowess centered on the team’s size and length. Milwaukee is first in opponent field goal percentage allowing just 42.2% shooting per game and tied for seventh in points allowed at 107.6 per game. They are also first in rebounding at 52.5 per game, which has allowed them to flourish in transition and speed up the pace.
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The Bledshow
While Giannis Antetokounmpo gets all the hype for what he brings to the table, a lot of Milwaukee’s success can be attributed to Eric Bledsoe, who has been their quarterback and a good reason the Bucks are fifth in the league in pace. In the final year of his contract and second season with the Bucks, Bledsoe is making GM Jon Horst’s decision to keep him in the offseason extremely difficult if he continues to play like this. Bud has definitely tapped into a new side of Eric and it’s shown with his assist numbers up from 5.1 to over six per game this season and turnovers down from 3.3 to just two per game. He’s looked a lot more comfortable in Bud’s offense, which has allowed the rest of the guys like the Greek Freak and Khris Middleton to play more freely while getting more open looks and easy baskets in transition. This team goes as Giannis goes, but Bledsoe’s play could end up the x-factor in determining how games play out on a nightly basis.
Bottom Line
The Bucks have run out to a 9-2 record, which puts them second in the Eastern Conference behind the 11-1 Raptors, who’s only blemish came at the hands of the deer. After two back-to-back games to finish off the road trip against the Clippers and Nuggets, both of whom are over .500, they will head home for a five game home stand at the Fiserv Forum, where they have yet to lose a game. Milwaukee is riding a huge wave right now and their stock is indeed rising. These next seven games could put them in a good position a quarter way into the season and put them in the conversation as a true contender for a conference title.
