Getty Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks reacts after a slam dunk against the Phoenix Suns during the first half of the NBA game at Talking Stick Resort Arena on March 04, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Milwaukee Bucks are making noise in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
Guided by their head coach, Mike Budenholzer, the Bucks have gone 7-3 in their last ten games. The team is led by the core of NBA All Star’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kris Middleton and big man, Brook Lopez. Going into tonight’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Bucks are currently sitting in first place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
While they are in first place and thriving, Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher is NOT sold on them, just yet.
Why?
“Because I’m just not convinced that Giannis, while everybody wants to say that he’s the best talent in the league, I still think that he’s figuring out how to make the most of what he has around him,” Bucher told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“And if it’s not Giannis as your go-to guy at the end of the game and to me it’s one of the biggest elements, you know, they can overwhelm teams with their, obviously their three-point shooting and Giannis can overwhelm teams just by his sheer natural ability. But when you get into a postseason and you can game plan and you can now make Giannis consistently play in a crowd and you can make him a decision-maker all of the time, to me, that’s still his weakness.”
The Milwaukee Bucks are on the verge of clinching the NBA’s best record, which would lock the Bucks into the No. 1 spot.
Bucher believes that the Greek Freak and the Bucks’ success depends on a couple of factors.
“How does he blend what he’s capable of doing and getting his teammates involved and making all the right decisions,” Bucher tells Scoop B Radio.
“Finding the right teammate at the right time. I would expect that they would get out of the first round, something that they haven’t been able to do, but the idea of them coming out of the East, I just, I don’t know that he’s quite ready for that, and ultimately it ends up weighing on your best player. That’s where you’re going to go. And if Giannis isn’t your go-to guy, well Kris Middleton has been a great scorer. Is he the guy? Is he the guy who’s going to get you a bucket with the game on the line, a playoff game or a playoff series on the line? That’s the missing element that I see with the Bucks and it becomes a very important one when you get to the postseason.”