Milwaukee Bucks: Best Team to Consider for Winning Candidate

The NBA’s All-Star break arrives after Thursday’s games and while all players are eager for the time off, it might be coming at a bad time for the Milwaukee Bucks as they enter Tuesday’s national TV showdown with the Boston Celtics on a season-high 10-game winning streak. The Bucks are up to +575 favorites to win the NBA title with the Celtics still favored at +350. Seems all but a lock those two will finish 1-2 in the East and meet in the conference finals. Boston has a 1.5-game lead over Milwaukee in the East.

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The Bucks’ 10-game winning streak is now their longest since they won 18 consecutive games during the 2019-20 season. Only Brooklyn (12) and Memphis (11) have had longer winning streaks in the NBA so far this season.

It’s no surprise that the Bucks’ numbers are up across the board during their 10-game winning streak, especially since the Bucks Big 3 of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton have all been available during the streak — Antetokounmpo and Middleton both returned from injuries at the start of the streak.

During the streak, two-time MVP Antetokounmpo is averaging 37.3 points, 13.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game while shooting 59.8% from the field. He is third in the NBA in scoring (career-high 32.4 ppg) and first in rebounding (12.3 rpg). Holiday is having his best season in his three seasons as a Buck. He’s averaging nearly 20 points, more than seven assists and more than five rebounds per game, which are all his highest numbers in his time in Milwaukee. Middleton missed one game last week but over his past five is averaging 18.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists and 1.4 triples.

Let’s not forget center Brook Lopez. In his 15th season in the NBA, Lopez is averaging his most points per game (14.4) since the 2015-16 season, shooting 50% overall, a career-high 37.5% from three and is second in the NBA with a career-high 2.45 blocks per game.

Could the Bucks get Sixth Man of the Year candidate Bobby Portis back Tuesday? Portis has been sidelined since January 23 with a knee injury and the initial expectation was that he would miss two weeks but he practiced Monday.

“He did some of practice,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said after Monday’s session. “We had a play group at the end of practice and he participated in that, so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow. It’s another good step for Bobby.”

Portis Jr. was fourth in the NBA with 29 double-doubles this season before suffering his injury. Playing primarily off the bench this season, Portis Jr. not only has 29 double-doubles, but is among a handful of players averaging a double-double with 14.4 points and a career-high 10.1 rebounds per game. Of the players averaging a double-double this season, Portis Jr. is the only one that is not primarily a starter.

The Bucks have had their injury problems this season. Middleton missed most of the season with both wrist and knee issues before returning late last month, and he has still been coming off the bench in recent games. Key reserve Joe Ingles missed the Bucks’ first couple of months recovering from ACL surgery he had last season. Giannis has missed a handful of games.

Milwaukee acquired 3-and-D veteran Jae Crowder ahead of last week’s NBA Trade Deadline but he won’t make his team debut until after the break. Crowder hasn’t played at all this season after making 67 starts and averaging 9.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists for the Suns in 2021-22. The Suns announced in late September that Crowder wouldn’t be joining them for training camp in what was described as a mutual decision. They’d been working on a trade for him ever since.

Milwaukee will catch a big break on Tuesday in that Boston will for sure be without All-Star Jaylen Brown and now probably MVP candidate Jason Tatum. Brown will be out until after the break with a facial fracture and Tatum is dealing with a non-COVID illness.

The Celtics vs Bucks have faced each other three times in the past five seasons in the playoffs, including last spring’s seven-game win by Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Had Middleton not been out for the Bucks injured, that series may have gone differently.