BTBP Roundtable: First Impressions of the 2015-16 Milwaukee Bucks
By Adam McGee
Oct 13, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Milwaukee Bucks center Greg Monroe (15) drives to the basket in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
5. How do you see the Bucks doing in their games against Boston, Denver and Cleveland in the next seven days?
AM: This is an underrated tricky stretch, and certainly big step up from the recent competition. Boston are a team with enough creativity and intelligence to cause problems. Denver away on the second night of a back-to-back is no fun. Then, Cleveland will be the first real statement game of the season for the Bucks, one way or another.
TW: If they start off strong against Boston and get O.J. Mayo back, I could see Milwaukee taking all three games. Momentum is everything in the NBA, and Cleveland is really banged up right now.
JT: I think the winning streak continues against Boston and Denver and it comes to a stop against Cleveland. Not to say the matchups against Boston and Denver aren’t important, but it’ll be interesting to see how this team plays against Cleveland as they played them very tough last year and it’ll be interesting to see who steps up in a very big matchup early on in the season.
JW: Without question I believe the Bucks should beat the Celtics in the Bradley Center tomorrow night. Except for maybe Cleveland and Chicago, I believe the Bucks should win a home game against an Eastern Conference opponent. The game against Denver should be a good one, but Milwaukee tends to struggle out West. They might lose that one, but it will be a close game. Any time the Bucks play the Cavs with a healthy LeBron James I expect them to lose, but of course I always hope for the best.
JK: This team will probably go 2-1 this week. Boston and Denver are both much better basketball teams then anyone the Bucks have faced during their four game win streak. Brad Stevens has a team in Boston that competes every night, and going into Denver is never an easy task. With that said, the Bucks have much more talent than both of these teams and should be able to grab 2 wins before hosting LeBron James in a big game Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
JH: The Bucks will beat Boston and Denver while they will lose to Cleveland. I expect all three games to be close (within 5 points).
AE: If we can come out of this week 2-1 I think that would be a big positive. We need to get through Boston, and we really should mow over Denver. If we can do that and put up a fight with Cleveland then we should look in good shape moving forward.
MH: These three games are more challenging than any of the victims of the Bucks current four game winning streak. I think they’ll beat Boston because the game is in Milwaukee. If it were being played in Boston, I might give the Celtics the nod. I don’t think the Denver game will be close, regardless of who wins. It just feels like a game that the Bucks could frustrate the Nuggets and then blow them out, or the Nuggets get out and run and Faried is doing his Manimal stuff and they beat the Bucks down. The Cleveland game will probably be a rough one.
Next: Milwaukee Bucks Player Power Rankings: November Edition
That’s it for this edition of the roundtable, be sure to check back for another next week!