NBA Power Rankings Week 21: Milwaukee Bucks won’t match Warriors
By Phil Watson
Milwaukee Bucks. 1. team. 89. . 53-10. Previous:
Last week: Won at Charlotte 93-85, lost at Miami 105-89, beat Indiana 119-100, lost at Lakers 113-103
This week: Sunday at Phoenix, Monday at Denver, Thursday vs. Boston, Saturday vs. Golden State
The Milwaukee Bucks did something last week they had not done all season — lose twice in the same week. The Bucks got hammered at Miami Monday on the second night of a back-to-back and then took a double-digit loss to the Lakers on the road Friday night.
That the two losses were by margins of at least 10 points isn’t that big a surprise — six of Milwaukee’s 10 losses this season are by double-digits. The Bucks have two more games on their final western swing of the season before they will play their final 17 games in either the Central or Eastern time zones.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a solid week, even if he had a back-to-back that was quite Dickensian — the best of times, the worst of times.
more NBA. Ripple effect of a Chris Paul trade to the Knicks. light
The reigning MVP went off for 41 points and matched a season-high with 20 rebounds to go with six assists in the Bucks’ win at Charlotte last Sunday, but was held in check at Miami the following night with 13 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
For the week, Antetokounmpo still averaged 28.8 points, 14.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.0 steals in 32.4 minutes per game, shooting 47.8 percent overall while making only 18.2 percent of his 5.5 3-point attempts per night.
Even with the season split with the Lakers, however, Milwaukee has a four-game lead over Los Angeles in the race for the NBA’s best record. If the Bucks hang onto that spot, it would mark the second consecutive season Milwaukee will have the best record in the league and the fourth time in franchise history it will have done it.
Next. Best player-coach duos for each NBA team's history. dark
The Bucks were a franchise-best 66-16 in 1970-71, when they won their lone NBA title, and went 59-23 in 1973-74, the only other time to date Milwaukee has reached the NBA Finals. That season, the Bucks took a 102-87 loss at home in Game 7 after pushing the series back to Wisconsin with a 102-101 double-overtime win at Boston Garden in Game 6.