Happy All-Star Break Week!
Over an 82 Game Regular Season, what will be the Bucks’ final record?
In the 2022-2023 season, the Milwaukee Bucks were (58-24). They were the one seed in the Eastern Conference. They, of course, lost in the first round to the Miami Heat.
Previous to that in the 2021-2022 Milwaukee was (51-31). Milwaukee went on to lose to the Celtics who went on to lose in the NBA finals.
Previous to that, well, #BucksinSix!!! The Bucks were (46-26) in the regular season and won the NBA Championship. What great memories!
Currently, the Milwaukee Bucks are (35-21). They are currently the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. They are also a surprising second place in the Central Division. The Bucks have won the Central Division crown for five years straight and are two games behind the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers.
Now Milwaukee is off until Friday, February 23rd. The Bucks resume their season against the 1 seed in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Minnesota smoked Milwaukee once already this season (129-105) in Milwaukee. The Bucks are looking for a different outcome after the break.
Related: Timberwolves vs Bucks Preview
Digging into the stats
Giannis leads the team in scoring. (30.8 per game) He is having an amazing season-again!
Damian Lillard is second on the team in scoring (24.6 per game). The Bucks, as a team, are second in the NBA in scoring at 122.0 a game ‘even-steven’. So, my math, then, comes out with Giannis and Dame accounting for 55.4 points a game or just over 45% of the team’s total output.
Khris Middleton is scoring around 14.8 points a game. Brook Lopez is averaging 13 points a game.
The bottom line here seems to be that 67% of the team’s scoring relies on four players, two of whom have serious injury histories.
The stats give us a huge clue: health will matter a ton for this team in moving forward.
The Turnovers have gotten a lot better
This year Milwaukee is 9th in the NBA in team turnovers (12.9 a game). Giannis is the worst here, averaging over 3.5 turnovers per game. But in his defense, many of his turnovers come from his attacking style of play and we don’t want to change that.
Last season the Bucks were 22nd in the NBA in team turnovers (14.6 a game). 1.7 might not seem like a huge difference but improving two possessions a game will bode well for this team in the playoffs.
My Prediction
I think the Bucks finish the season (53-29). The schedule has some easy parts (March 30th-April 7th) and some harder parts (March 4th-March 12th).
What matters is that this team is firing on all cylinders heading into the playoffs.
If the playoffs started tomorrow the Bucks would face off against the 6th seed Indiana Pacers. That would be an electric series!
Attendance Numbers
So far this season Milwaukee has been drawing in quite a few fans. The current attendance is at 528,885 fans. That is (9th of 30) in the NBA.
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