Bucks Game Preview in Dazzling Downtown Milwaukee

Bucks vs 76er’s Preview- Game is in Dazzling Downtown Milwaukee

The 45-17 Milwaukee Bucks take on the 40-22 Philadelphia 76er’s at home in downtown Milwaukee Saturday Night. “Will Aaron Rodgers stay? Will he go?” Who cares?! We have Giannis and they don’t. The Bucks are on a 16 game winning streak. An argument can be made that they are the best professional basketball team on the planet. 

The Bucks beat the 76er’s already on opening night. Then the Sixers beat Milwaukee on Nov. 18th in Philly. Now that Milwaukee is at home, Philadelphia will put that 27-5 home record to the test, especially if Joel Embiid plays. (Crazy to think that Milwaukee could have drafted Embiid.)

Vegas has the Bucks at a 64% chance to win the game and 5 point favorites.

The Bucks have made some roster tweaks lately. We’ll see who plays. And at some point it’ll be interesting to see if Khris Middleton starts.

Your Milwaukee Bucks- Keys to a Bucks Win

Controlling the glass “might” be a key

Philadelphia might just “yield” here. Against Dallas they managed a measly 37 rebounds. Against a team without a center! And Philadelphia has struggled all year to rebound the basketball. 

Currently Philadelphia is ranked 28th in the NBA in team rebounding. They average 40.5 rebounds a game. That’s not good.

Milwaukee has led most of the season in team rebounding. They are #1 right now with 49.4 rebounds per game. That is really good. To be the best means, well, you are the best. Milwaukee is the best rebounding team in the NBA. 

Bench vs Bench

Milwaukee’s bench needs a nickname. The “maulers”… Bobby’s Bench Ballers…

Bucks commentator Marques Johnson commented that the line-up of Holiday, Portis, Middleton, Crowder and Middleton was a “Milwaukee Mensa Squad”. That group, per Johnson, has an amazingly high basketball IQ. 

Philadelphia has a very “hit or miss” bench. If the Bucks can get better production here, it should really help.

Score over 118 points

Milwaukee is on a sixteen game winning streak. Over the past five games the Bucks have averaged 120.2 points. This win streak is about as good as we’ve seen. And while It is NBA regular season basketball, where defense can feel non-existent at times, Milwaukee appears to have a team that can score.

In this space we really have figured it out- the magic number is 118. Charlotte scores 115, we score more and win. In Milwaukee’s last loss to Cleveland they held them to 114 points. So, had the Bucks managed to score 118 points they would have won. However, they only scored 102. That’s not 118.

Milwaukee averages 60 points in the first half in games at home. That’s 7th in the NBA. 118 is really starting to feel like a “magic number”. 

The Opponent: The 76er’s

Joel Embiid is a beast. (33/10/4) There once was a chance the Bucks could have had him. He is coming off a 35 point performance against the Mavs. 

Tyrese Maxey is having a good year. (19/2/3) He is a spark-plug player and really can bring some energy and attack when needed.

James Harden is having an above-average year. He still struggles at times with turnovers. But he can score (22 points a game.) And he can distribute the ball. He is averaging over 10 assists per game.

Tobias Harris has been down this season. Averaging around 15 points a game, the 30 yr old is below all of his career averages.

Things to tell your buddies as you are watching the game

• What is a 76’er? The Philadelphia 76ers name originates from the year 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia.
• The 76er’s franchise originally began as the Syracuse Nationals in 1946.
• What is a “sixer”? Along with the year the 1776 and the signing a Declaration of Independence, when you take six beers and place them in a corrugated cardboard apparatus, you have a “sixer”.

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