Bucks vs Warriors Things to Watch- Game Preview

The 19-7 Milwaukee Bucks take on the defending NBA Champion (14-13) Golden State Warriors in Downtown Milwaukee at the Fiserv Forum Tuesday night. (6:30 pm Tip-off CST) The Warriors are coming off a big win against Boston on Saturday. It promises to be a high-scoring, fun regular season NBA game. The game will be nationally televised on TNT. 

Vegas has the Bucks at an 58% chance to win the game and 3 point favorites. 

The Warriors have been very “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” at home vs on the road. Golden State is 2-11 on the road. 

The keys for the Bucks will be to get some better play from Giannis and Brook. They both struggled versus Houston and that did not help.

The schedule makers continue to be kind to Milwaukee. After a quick Texas split (win in Dallas, loss in Houston) Milwaukee comes back home where they are 12-3. They then head to Memphis for one and come back home for a game Saturday night against the Utah Jazz. Then, finally, the Bucks embark on a longer road trip (5 games). On that trip they will face some tough teams, including the highly-anticipated Christmas Day showdown vs the Celtics.

Keys for the Bucks

Giannis and Brook need to show up and show out!

We have such high standards for Giannis (he has high expectations for himself) we are always shocked when he only scores 16 points or only has a few rebounds. He’s still had a great start to the season. It’ll only take that one game…

As for Brook Lopez, getting back that “splash mountain” shot from behind the arc would really help. He was 1-4 from the three against Houston and usually averages 40% with his 3’s. A few “splashes” will help the cause for Milwaukee.

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 Houston and Dallas. Winning the “turnover battle” in the NBA is also a very real thing. Milwaukee needs to do that to win.

The Opponent: The Golden State Warriors

Just like in our Lakers preview vs the Bucks, it is worth asking, “what is wrong so far with Golden State this season?” They have not had a good start record-wise (14-13). A lot of that seems to come down to team chemistry and Draymond Green punching Milwaukeean Jordan Poole. They also have those major struggles on the road. 

Golden State scores a ton of points (117 per game-4th in the NBA) but plays suspect defense at times. They don’t block many shots (24th) and don’t get a ton of steals (20th). At this point in the season, no one has counted them out yet.

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. Stephen Curry is off to an awesome start (30 points per game, 7 assists). So is Andrew Wiggins. (He is out for this game however.) 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 off to the abysmal 2-11 road start. They just don’t seem to play as well away from home.

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. 
• Klay Thompson of the Warriors really, really loves boating. (Not sailing- being out on a motor boat.) He often can be seen wearing a Captain’s “Cap”. Check it out here.
• 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 85-57.
• 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. “Block Mountain”.
• Khris Middleton has been nothing but solid in his past 50 career games, averaging 20/5/5. As a point of comparison Klay “Ship Captain” Thompson, over his last fifty games, has averaged 20/4/3.
• The campaign to get Milwaukee Buck Bobby Portis in the running for “6th man of the year” has begun. Check out the interesting tweet below.

The People's Champ.
The Mayor Of Milwaukee.
Underdog.
6th Man of the Year. pic.twitter.com/WraZWdPAie

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 12, 2022

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