Milwaukee Bucks vs Dallas Mavericks Preview
The (32-16) Milwaukee Bucks take on the (26-22) Dallas Mavericks Saturday night in downtown Dallas at the American Airlines Center. The game will be a little later with a 7:30 pm start. But hey, it’s Saturday Night so you can relax and enjoy the game.
It’s being billed as Luka vs Giannis which it should be! Luka is second in the NBA in scoring and Giannis is fourth. Click here to see a previous piece about some of the nice things Luka had to say about Giannis last season.
This is the last game this year between the two teams. The Bucks won the first game (132-125) in Milwaukee.
Unless, of course, they meet again in the NBA Finals. Vegas has the Bucks as 3 point favorites in this game.
Both Milwaukee and Dallas are pretty flat coming into the game. Both teams have won two of their last five games. Kyrie Irving might not play. Doc Rivers is looking for his first win as Milwaukee’s new head coach. This has all the markings of a high-scoring, high energy, (low-defense) game.
Related: Maybe it was good the Bucks didn’t win the NBA In-Season Tournament
Keys for the Milwaukee Bucks
Pass the ball
The Bucks are averaging 26.5 assists per game as a team. That puts them 14th in the NBA. In the recent loss to Denver they only had 24 team assists. In their most recent win against New Orleans they had 30 team assists. When they pass, they win.
Damian Lillard leads the team in assists. In the past, against Luka, he has done really well for himself and for the team. In Portland on August 11th, 2020 Lillard put up 61 against the Mavs (Still managed 8 assists). In game one with the Bucks this season against Dallas, Lillard had a confident 27 with 12 quality assists.
As a team if Milwaukee is over that 26 assists per game number, you’d expect a “W”.
Block Shots
Sounds simple but for the Bucks, this game will be won or lost with 4th Quarter Defense. If during the game the Bucks do a good job of altering the Mavs players’ shots, they’ll win. The Bucks are currently 11th in the NBA in team blocks at 5.4 blocks per game. The Mavs are 26th out 30 teams. (4.3 blocks per game)
Brook Lopez is currently second in the NBA and is averaging 2.8 blocked shots per game.
Giannis is 24th and averages around a block per game.
The Opponent- The Mavericks
The Mavericks are not doing so well right now. They are 14-12 at home. They are starting to look like a team that is missing out on its former identity. (They did make the NBA finals two years ago.) The addition of Grant Williams hasn’t really panned out. Mark Cuban also sold the team.
In what identity they do have, they don’t play much defense. They also get stuck playing a lot of ISO.
The Mavericks will go as far as Luka Doncic can carry them. He is having another “all-world” season. He is 21st in the NBA in rebounding. He is listed as the team’s point guard. That’s pretty amazing!
Luka leads the team in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals. The 24-yr old continues to show the world why is one of the game’s best, complete basketball players.
Kyrie Irving is the clear #2 option on this team. He averages 25 points per game and 5 assists. Irving has also only played in 27 games. He is listed, as of the time of this writing, as a “game-time decision.”
After that things start to get a little lean. Tim Hardaway Jr. is having a career-year. He is averaging 18.3 points per game. But he barely averages 2 assists per game and plays a ton of minutes
Former 5th overall pick Dante Exum is having a nice, comeback-type season. He is a key bench player for the Mavs.
Derek Lively has been the surprise of the team. The rookie 1st round pick has given Dallas something they really have not had in a while: a decent low post presence.
Things to tell your buddies while you are watching the game
- Doc Rivers was an all-star with the Atlanta Hawks in 1988.
- Dallas was an NBA expansion team in 1980. They have won one NBA championship- 2011.
- Anytime I think Mavericks, I think Dirk and and Steve Nash. Check out my first piece with this online magazine and “That One Time Dirk Nowitzki was a Milwaukee Buck”.
Follow me on Twitter at @authorrudylb and check out my other writings at www.rudylb.com. Follow us at @WiSportsHeroics! For all things Wisconsin sports, click here! Also, check out our merch store for some amazing WSH merchandise!
