The battle for playoff positioning the Eastern Conference will be greatly influenced by Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets. Brooklyn has just a 2.5 game lead on Milwaukee for the second seed as we hit the final few games of the season, and a Bucks win would only narrow that gap. However, the Nets are trying to exact some revenge from Sunday’s loss to the Bucks, and they likely will with the talent on the squad.
For the second time in three days, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets square off at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday night. The teams are separated by less than three games in the Eastern Conference standings, and both are within three games of the top seed heading into the final two weeks of the season. Milwaukee enters the matchup as winners of two straight games and five of its last seven while Brooklyn has lost its last two contests after mini four-game winning streak. Sunday’s game between these two teams was really a showcase of the superstars for each squad. In the end, it was Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 49 points that outdueled Kevin Durant’s 42 points for a three-point Milwaukee victory. Each team’s secondary star also had strong performances as Khris Middleton added 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks and Kyrie Irving had 20 points for the Nets. That actually is a slight advantage to Brooklyn heading into Tuesday’s matchup because it feels more likely the Nets will receive a more efficient performance from Irving than Antetokounmpo and Middleton replicating their performance. Irving and Durant could easily score 62 combined points again in some other division while it’s more of a stretch for Antetokounmpo and Middleton to score 75 points again. Though it didn’t make a difference Sunday, I am concerned about the supporting cast around Milwaukee’s two best players. If you exclude Antetokounmpo and Middleton, the rest of the Bucks shot 39 percent from the field and scored just 42 points. The Nets not named Durant or Irving shot just a fraction better at 40.4 percent, but still scored 52 points for Brooklyn. That total included poor shooting nights from Joe Harris and Jeff Green, two players who have proven to be vital for the Nets at times this season. The Bucks didn’t get as much offensive production as they expected from Donte DiVincenzo, but at best, he will only make up the difference in Antetokounmpo’s performance Sunday compared to Tuesday. Perhaps influenced by Sunday’s result, the legal sports betting sites in New Jersey have installed Milwaukee as a two-point favorite. I am skeptical of the Bucks at home given how much they relied on Antetokounmpo in Sunday’s win. The Nets are much deeper than people think and that depth will shine Tuesday as Brooklyn tries to keep pace in the Eastern Conference. The role players will step up for the Nets and earn them a victory, but the odds on the moneyline at the basketball betting sites in New Jersey are paltry at +112. Instead, I’m betting on the Nets to win by 10 points or fewer at +210 odds to beef up my return on what should be a tight game. I’ll even double down at the NBA betting sites in New Jersey by betting on Brooklyn to win by five points or fewer at +450 odds and to win by 6-10 points at +550 odds to increase the payout.
Brooklyn +2 points Sunday’s contest between these two teams was a back-and-forth affair with the Bucks outlasting the Nets. It was a true battle between Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokoumpo, as both stars had at least 40 points. However, the difference Tuesday will be the supporting cast and Brooklyn has better players around their top duo than Milwaukee has around its two best players.
