Milwaukee Bucks: Soft spot in schedule the time to collect wins

The Milwaukee Bucks are in a soft spot in their schedule, where the team needs to collect as many wins as possible before things get more difficult.

The Milwaukee Bucks have won three straight games since firing head coach Jason Kidd, winning by an average of 14.3 points. On the surface that seems like a clear affirmation of the move, but in fact it has more to do with the quality of the opponents than anything else.

Those three wins were over the Phoenix Suns, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls, all teams mired deep in the lottery dealing with issues far greater than Milwaukee’s own. The Bucks were heavy favorites in each game regardless of who was pacing the sideline.

What those three wins do signify is Milwaukee taking advantage of a soft spot in the schedule, a necessity in a close Eastern Conference playoff battle. One week ago the Bucks were in eighth place in the East, but after Sunday’s win have climbed to 26-22 and sixth in the conference.

A few days after Christmas, Milwaukee began a grueling stretch of competition with three weeks of playing nearly every game against playoff competition. Twelve of 13 games came against teams currently in the postseason, and all but three against the same Eastern Conference foes the Bucks are fighting for playoff seeding.

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The Bucks began strong, winning the first two games and two of the first three. But then things began to slip away, with Milwaukee alternating wins and losses before dropping four of the last five games in that stretch. Win those games, and not only are the Bucks higher in the standings, but Jason Kidd may still be the coach.

Nonetheless, those losses did occur and the Bucks are moving forward with an interim coach. Last Monday’s win over the Phoenix Suns began a mirror stretch where the Bucks get the other side of the seesaw. They will end up playing eight lottery teams in 11 games, their chance to accumulate wins against easier opposition.

That is not to say these games will be easy, nor that the Bucks will sweep every game against inferior opposition. But for a team that dropped games to subpar competition too frequently early in the season, and just dropped a number of games to better competition, the Bucks have to get as many wins as they can when the games aren’t against the stars.

Milwaukee has already banked three wins in this stretch, and Monday night will face the Philadelphia 76ers in a rematch of last weekend’s loss. They then finish the season series with Minnesota a month after knocking off the Timberwolves 102-96. Ideally the Bucks can win at least one of those two games.

Then things open up again, with three straight games against New York’s finest. Both the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets are 3-7 in their last 10 games, and with a relatively fresh Giannis Antetokounmpo after his week off, the Bucks need to sweep those three games to keep pace in the East.

Milwaukee closes this stretch of games with a trio of contests against the Southwest. The Miami Heat are still winning tight games, but despite sitting at fourth in the conference they have the 10th-best point differential. Their collection of good-not-great pieces lacks the star power that Antetokounmpo brings.

Then the reeling Orlando Magic and talent-starved Atlanta Hawks round out the run as the two teams currently jockeying for bottom of the East. The Bucks are 1-0 against each already this season, and will want to make that a cool 4-0 combined before the All-Star Break.

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The reality of the NBA standings is that any win counts, and the Buck have to clear a certain amount no matter their opponents. With so much turmoil on the coaching staff and so many injuries cycling through the roster, this team needs to bank wins everywhere it can, but especially in the “easy” games.

The schedule circles back to nasty almost immediately. Following the game against the Hawks, the Bucks play eight of nine against teams currently in the playoffs, including key games against Philadelphia, Indiana (twice) and Washington. If the Bucks drop games they should win over the next two weeks, then their margin for error is razor-thin when the schedule ramps back up.

With slight differences, each NBA team plays the same basic schedule and has to face the ups-and-downs as they come. But when the last “down” saw the Bucks lose their coach, they want to push for the ups as much as possible. This team is talented and fully capable of beating any team on a given night, but especially a team with little to play for as the playoffs slip away.

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However, they still have to go out and collect those wins without taking the opponent for granted. If they can win consistently against the softer opponents, then collect a few wins against similar competition, suddenly the Milwaukee Bucks will be right where they want to be.