Playoff Picture: Milwaukee Bucks
By Luke Duffy
Why They’ll Win It All
It’s not disrespectful to say, but few people expect this team to get very far. That can be this team’s greatest weapon however, there is no pressure on them to win big and win now. It is also worth noting that this Bucks outfit is better than the Brandon Jennings-led outfit that got eviscerated by the Miami Heat two years ago.
Looking at the cold hard facts though, this team is, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the second-best defense in the league (they give up 99.2 points per game, although the San Antonio Spurs may overtake them by the end of the regular season). That number is a testament to both the players and Kidd.
A young core of players traditionally take a little while to both defend as a unit, and also buy into defending consistently (a bottom-seven defensive team like the Orlando Magic can vouch for this). The Bucks already do this, and do it well. That’s without Parker, as well, who can score but still needs to work on his defense.
Jabari Parker: 62% at rim, 36% from outside
— Chris Bunn (@ChrisBunn21) April 2, 2015
Justise Winslow: 62% at rim, 42% from outside + defense
Milwaukee also plays at a pace that is just faster than the league average. Shutting down opponents in the playoffs and the turning on the afterburners to score some points of their own, now that’s a dangerous combination.
Michael Carter-Williams has his detractors, but the guy defends well. Ersan Ilyasova is playing probably the best basketball of his career in the last couple of months as well. There’s a lot going right for this team at the right time.
Next: Still A Work In Process