Despite the fact that the National Basketball Association has suspended the 2019-20 season indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic, sports betting sites will still take action on futures wagers regarding the 2019-20 champion. The Milwaukee Bucks currently lead the Eastern Conference standings with a 53-12 record, 6 ½ games ahead of the Toronto Raptors. However, before the regular season was suspended, the Bucks were on a three-game losing streak. That began in Los Angeles in a brutally physical contest that saw the Lakers hammer the Bucks any time they went inside with the ball. Giannis Antetokounmpo ended up tweaking his knee and missed the next two games, losses to the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets. If there is a silver lining to the unexpected break in play for the Bucks, it is that Giannis should have time to rest his knee. Let’s take a look at how the Bucks have done so far — and how far we could expect them to go in the postseason and their NBA Odds.
NBA: Milwaukee Bucks 2019-20 Season Analysis
Offensive Analysis
For the majority of the season, the Bucks have played dominant offense. As of March 3 (when they were still 52-9), they had been outscoring the opposition by 12.26 points per game. That’s almost as big a margin as the largest in NBA history, set in 1971-72 by the Los Angeles Lakers. Those Lakers had Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Pat Riley on their roster. Through 61 games, only three teams had ever had better starts than the Bucks, most recently the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors. The Lakers showed that physicality can wear down the Bucks, but it is hard to see officiating being that uneven in an NBA Finals.
Defensive Analysis
When you think about the Bucks, you might think about Giannis and Khris Middleton draining three-balls. However, the Bucks have the best defense in the NBA, running away. Their Defensive Rating is 3.8 points better than the second-best team, Toronto. If they finish that far ahead, they would have the greatest margin of any team since the 1996-97 campaign. Their relative defense rating, according to NBA.com, is -8.9. That is the best of any team in the modern NBA. It’s better than San Antonio in 2003-04, Boston in 2007-08, and even those physical Knicks teams from the 1990s, led by Charles Oakley, and even the “Bad Boys” in Detroit, who held the Lakers to a combined 143 points in Games 1 and 3 of the 2004 NBA Finals. Giannis’ defense has also been historically solid, as opponents are shooting 9.5% worse against him than they would normally, based on their shot location. According to NBA.com, that is the best number that any defender has put up since the league started tracking the metric in the 2013-14 season.
Key Players/Numbers
The first player on this list has to be Giannis. In addition to that historic defense, he averages 29.6 points per night, shooting almost 55 percent from the floor and just over 30 percent from behind the arc. Khris Middleton is the other Buck averaging over 20 points per night (21.1, to be exact), shooting 50 percent from the floor and almost 42 percent from behind the arc. The three-point shooting leader is George Hill, who has made 48 percent of his shots from downtown and shoots 53 percent from the floor overall, averaging 9.6 points per game. Eric Bledsoe (15.4) and Brook Lopez (11.0) are the other Bucks scoring in double figures.
Giannis also leads the team in rebounds, pulling down 13.7 boards per game, including 2.3 on the offensive glass. No one else on the team averages more than 6.2 rebounds per game. Dante DiVincenzo leads the team in steals at 1.4 per game. The block leader is Giannis, with 58 in 57 games.
Odds to Win the NBA Championship: 3/1
It is not easy to predict how the layoff will affect NBA teams, if and when the league resumes play. Will there be some warm-up games ahead of the playoffs? Would those games count in the standings or be treated as pre-postseason scrimmages? The league hasn’t said anything yet. However, the Bucks are built on both ends of the floor to score — and to shut opponents down.
