Milwaukee Bucks: 5 goals following 2019 NBA All-Star break
1. Win the Championship
On the surface, the Milwaukee Bucks shouldn’t be in the title conversation. They haven’t won a playoff series in nearly twenty years, they don’t have an established second star and the Eastern Conference field is as strong at the top as it has been in years.
On the other side of the bracket, the Golden State Warriors are a juggernaut that can only be stopped by Kevin Durant leaving in free agency.
Yet peel away our expectations and recent history, and simply look at their statistical resume. Their +9.6 net rating not only leads the league, but it is also a full four points higher than the next-best Eastern Conference team, and 2.6 higher than the West-leading Golden State Warriors. Simple Rating System (SRS), which seeks to factor strength of schedule into point differential, has the Bucks at a historically-high 8.99, top-20 all-time.
Milwaukee is 3-1 against Toronto, 2-1 against Boston and 1-0 against Philadelphia. They have wins against Golden State, Denver and Houston. They are 24-5 at home and 20-9 on the road and have not lost back-to-back games all season. This team is for real.
dark. Next. Oklahoma City Thunder: Paul George’s MVP case
It will be on the roster and the coaching staff to follow through. While everything suggests their production thus far is not a fluke, they still need to prove it. The Eastern Conference field will be difficult, and the foe in the Finals will be historically good. They don’t need to win the East or the Finals to validate their success, but they absolutely can. This team should set it sights no lower than an NBA championship.