The Milwaukee Bucks must be thankful that it is finally the NBA All-Star Break. They lost to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night on the road 113-110. Milwaukee is just 3-7 in the Doc Rivers era and they will have a week off to figure things out.
Milwaukee will have Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard represent the Bucks at the NBA All-Star Game this weekend in Indianapolis, Indiana. What’s more important is that the Milwaukee Bucks are the third seed entering the break in the Eastern Conference with a 35-21 record.
Milwaukee currently trails the Cleveland Cavaliers (36-17) and the Boston Celtics (43-12) in the Eastern Conference Standings. If the regular season were to end today, the Bucks would face the Indiana Pacers (31-25) in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Indiana has beaten Milwaukee four times out of five this season and that would not be an ideal matchup for the Bucks.
This could be a chance for the Bucks to possibly lose for the second consecutive season in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Milwaukee lost as the one-seed last season in five games against the eighth-seeded Miami Heat. That led to the firing of Mike Budenholzer and the hiring of Adrian Griffin Jr. for a short amount of time.
Milwaukee would have a lot of problems on their hands if they were to lose in the first round again. They have championship expectations for this season and many seasons to come.
Milwaukee Bucks Stats For the First Half of the 2023-2024 NBA Regular Season
The Bucks had some interesting stats throughout the first half of the 2023-2024 NBA regular season. They are scoring the second-most points per game in the NBA at 122.0 PPG. However, on the defensive side of the basketball, they are ranked 23rd in points per game allowed at 118.8 PPG.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has played in 54 games so far this season for the Milwaukee Bucks. He is averaging 30.8 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 6.4 APG, 1.1 BPG, and 1.4 SPG. Antetokounmpo has a chance to be one of the NBA MVP Finalists this season.
Damian Lillard has played in 51 games so far this season for Milwaukee. He is averaging 24.6 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 6.7 APG, 0.2 BPG, and 1.0 SPG. Lillard has been very good in his first season with this franchise after being traded from the Portland Trail Blazers in the offseason.
Khris Middleton has played in 43 games this year for the Bucks. He is averaging 14.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 5.0 APG, 0.3 BPG, and 0.9 SPG. Middleton hopes to be back after the all-star break from his ankle injury and will need to better with his performance.
The Milwaukee Bucks should have stayed the course with Adrian Griffin Jr. as head coach instead of bringing Doc Rivers. Milwaukee needs to improve big time in the second half of the season. The Bucks need to get their continuity going out of the gates and the first game they will coming out of the NBA All-Star Break is next Friday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road.
