Last Week: (W) over IND, (L) to MIN, (L) to SAS
The defending champions have quietly been nailed with injuries to start the season. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton have started all six games, but the lineup around them has been shuffled up, with eight different players starting a game thus far. Jrue Holiday has played just two games, and Brook Lopez only one. Starting 2-guard Donte DiVincenzo is not back yet from surgery during the postseason.
Thus the fact that they are 3-3 is fine, even if they lost a couple of games to middling teams. The plus side is that plenty of bench players are getting extra run to develop and be ready to help in a much smaller role once everyone is healthy. Antetokounmpo is putting up another MVP-level season and the Bucks should be this conference’s best team once everyone is back.
Scares Me: Stopping Giannis in the open court. There are a number of players it would be scary to try and stop in transition, with Miles Bridges and LeBron James high up on the list. Yet no player right now is scarier than Giannis, with his impossibly long strides, slow-motion Europstep and desire to finish with a dunk. You wrap him up and hope to somehow stop him from scoring anyway.