We are only five days into this NBA season and we’ve already had some crazy storylines. The Dallas Mavericks led the Los Angeles Clippers by 50 at halftime, the Cleveland Cavaliers are 3-0 and the Milwaukee Bucks are 1-2.
After a tough opening night loss to the Boston Celtics, the Bucks were able to obliterate the Warriors, but now have dropped to the New York Knicks…by twenty points. Is it time for Milwaukee fans to start to worry about the Bucks?
Milwaukee Bucks’ Loss to Celtics
In the first game against Boston, reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo had a horrific first half. Down by as much as 17, not much looked to be going right. With just under 10 minutes left in the game, the Bucks were down by 16. They roared back to hold a one-point lead until a ridiculous banked in three from Jayson Tatum gave the Celtics a two-point lead. Giannis, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Donte DiVincenzo combined for 102 points, even with the slow start for the MVP. Sure, Giannis split the free throws that could’ve tied the game with 0.4 seconds left, but the Bucks again were victims to lady luck favoring Boston.
Tatum, a career 40% three-point shooter, drained six threes on just thirteen attempts. The Celtics as a team shot an impressive 45% from deep as well. Just like last year, it seems teams shoot their best against the Bucks, and the defense is hardly to blame. Even with good defense, the Bucks often see players post career performances against them. Take the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals, for example. Fred VanVleet shot 14/17 from deep from Game 4 through Game 6. Unfortunately, the Bucks saw the same type of shooting from the Knicks Sunday night.
Milwaukee Bucks’ Loss to Knicks
Knicks guard Elfrid Payton came into the game shooting 21% from the field in his first two games. Payton, who has had questionable, at best, shooting since entering the league, decided to hit 12-of-16 shots, including all three from deep. The Knicks shot 54% from the field with an ungodly 59% from deep, while the Bucks shot an abysmal 18% from long range. As much as Knicks fans will want to gloat on this victory, it’s obviously nothing more than a fluke.
What’s the Verdict?
So, let’s look at the season in summation for Milwaukee right now. Against Boston, they had a horrible first half from the MVP, are down 16 in the fourth and the Celtics needed an incredibly hot Tatum to hit an incredibly lucky banked three to win. The next game, the Bucks do nothing short of embarrassing and annihilating the Warriors. Game three, the Bucks post what will likely be their worst three-point performance of the season on the same night Elfrid Payton and the Knicks post shooting stats resembling those of Stephen Curry left wide open in the corner.
It’s easy to get caught up in two games the Bucks lost that they should have won. The reason why you come to us at FlurrySports, however, is because we see through all of the fake hype and tell you what’s actually important.
What’s important here is that in the three games to date, the Bucks’ 1-2 record is nothing more than a fluke.
