Bucks vs Warriors Game Preview
The 48-18 Milwaukee Bucks take on the defending NBA champion 34-33 Golden State Warriors in the mission bay neighborhood of San Francisco at the Chase Center. (7:30 pm Tip-off CST) The Warriors are currently in the midst of a three game losing streak. Milwaukee has delivered on a strong regular season and is currently the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. It promises to be a high-scoring, fun regular season NBA game. The game will be nationally televised on ABC.
Vegas has the Bucks with a 52% chance to win the game and 2 point favorites. Golden State is simply a better, and different team, when they play at home. The Warriors have been very “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” at home vs on the road. Golden State is 27-7 at home. They are 7-26 on the road.
Golden State is the 6 seed in the West.
The schedule makers have generally been kind to Milwaukee this season. This begins the last, little tough stretch for the club with a west coast road trip. Monday night is an away game vs Sacramento. Tuesday night is a game against the “Kevin-Durant less” Suns.
Keys for the Bucs
Hit your shots
The Bucks are now 9th in the NBA in scoring (115 points per game). Defensively they only give up around 111 points per game, hence their pretty strong record.
I know it sounds overly simplistic, but in this game it may come down to a few separate possessions where, if Milwaukee hits their shot, they’ll win. Can Jae Crowder hit three threes? Can Khris hit a running floater in the lane when he needs to? Golden State will have a few runs in this game. Can Milwaukee hit that shot to flip the momentum back?
Grayson Allen has had some clutch games in the spotlight. How great would a 20 points performance from him be.
Related: Bucks Bench Midseason Grades
Don’t Turn the Basketball Over
Golden State is 29th in the NBA in team turnovers. Milwaukee has had some high turnover games recently in Orlando. But they have been able to keep down that number in wins vs Brooklyn and in the close 76er’s loss. (Only 13 total team turnovers.) Winning the “turnover battle” in the NBA is also a very real thing. Milwaukee needs to do that to win.
Milwaukee is currently 23rd in the NBA in team turnovers. If Milwaukee turns it over less than 16 times they usually win.
Highlights from last night's WIN vs. Nets.
⚡️ @we_energies ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/1SFUgJlM24
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) March 10, 2023
The Opponent: The Golden State Warriors
Everybody is back and everyone appears to be healthy for Golden State. So is this when we should expect them to make a run to defend their championship?
Maybe. In a recent loss to Memphis, Dillion Brooks and Draymond Green had a few entertaining moments. But that has all led to the idea that maybe Golden State really lacks an identity right now. They just don’t seem to be as good.
Golden State scores a ton of points (118 per game-3rd in the NBA) but the unit plays suspect defense at times. They don’t block many shots (24th) and don’t get a ton of steals (20th). They just have not been able to get stops when they need to.
The Warriors have a strong Milwaukee connection with Kevon Looney, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Jordan Poole all being from the Milwaukee area. Those players are not the big stars of course but Poole is really good. Baldwin JR has being playing a lot more.
Stephen Curry is always playing well (30 points per game, 7 assists). So does Andrew Wiggins. Draymond Green is the “engine” of the team. While he only averages 8 points a game, he provides the spark any quality team hopes for.
Last season the Warriors were only 22-19 on the road. And again, they are at 7-26 on the road.
Things to tell your buddies as you are watching the game
- Golden State actually started out in Philadelphia, moving in 1962. The originally were the San Francisco Warriors but took on the Golden State moniker in 1971.
- Ja Morant should look to Steph Curry. By the way, could you ever imagine Giannis at the club, at 5am, with a gun?
- Golden State has had some nice success as a franchise winning seven (7) NBA titles (1947, 1956, 1975, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022.)
- The Bucks lead the all-time series 86-57.
- Brook Lopez has had some big games against the Warriors in his career. But interestingly enough he has managed at least two blocks against Golden State 9 times. He managed to block 9 shots against the Nets.
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