Last week: Beat Indiana 117-89, lost at Philadelphia 121-109, won at Atlanta 112-86, beat Orlando 111-100
This week: Monday at Chicago, Wednesday vs. Minnesota, Saturday vs. San Antonio
The Milwaukee Bucks are slumping badly, having won just 22 of their last 24 games and with two losses within 10 days of each other. All kidding aside, the Bucks continue to power their way through opponents, with the Christmas Day loss at Philadelphia an anomaly — it was just the second time Milwaukee has lost by double digits this season.
With Giannis Antetokounmpo nursing a sore back the last two games, Khris Middleton averaged 21.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.3 minutes per game, hitting 49.3 percent of his shots overall and canning 43.5 percent on 5.8 3-point attempts per game. Middleton had 31 points and eight boards in the loss to the 76ers, hitting 5-of-9 from deep.
It’s encouraging for Milwaukee to win twice by double-digits with Antetokounmpo sidelined, in much the same manner the Bucks went 7-0 while Middleton was out with a thigh bruise from Nov. 14-25 and have gone 6-2 since Dec. 14 while Eric Bledsoe recovers from an avulsion fracture in his right shin.
Milwaukee has been as dominant as its 29-5 record would imply it is, combining the second-best offensive rating (113.8) with the NBA’s top defensive rating (101.3), a net rating of plus-12.5 that would rank as the third-best in NBA history, trailing only the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (plus-13.4) and 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (plus-13.0).
You might recognize those teams as the only two clubs in NBA history to post 70-win seasons. The two losses in the last two weeks have knocked the Bucks off that pace — they are only on pace to win 63 games at their current rate. That wouldn’t be a bad encore to last season, which marked the franchise’s first 60-win season since 1980-81.