Milwaukee Bucks Best and Worst: December 15 – 23

Best: Playoff-Preview Back-To-Backs

Looking at the schedule beforehand, I wasn’t sure how I would feel regarding the home-and-home, two-game back-to-backs the Bucks were set to play in, but consider me a definite fan having watched them.

Each set has the intense feel of a miniature playoff series, and what the players and coaching staff can do in a short time to adjust from game to game is put wholly on display.

After dominating the Bulls in two straight, the Bucks were then slated to face the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. Given that the Bucks had embarrassed the Cavs with a 17-point loss earlier this season, there was no way that Milwaukee would sneak up on their opponents.

Even so, the Bucks seem to match up well with the Cavs, nearly winning the first game and hanging tough for most of the second before ultimately succumbing to Kyrie Irving and company.

The physicality and pressure of these games was very different from what’s seen in a normal regular-season meeting, and given the respective records of both teams, talk of a potential 1-vs-8 seed playoff matchup abounded.

Should the Bucks make the playoffs (FiveThirtyEight has them at 56 percent odds), it would be at the least a great opportunity for a younger roster to get a real taste of playoff action. Players like Giannis and John Henson have been there before, but not in the larger role they now occupy.

What makes the possibility of a Cavaliers matchup all the more intriguing, however, are the comments made by Irving and James following the second night they squared off against the Bucks.

Irving acknowledged the possibility of a series, but seemed to dismiss it as an easy sweep, while LeBron seemed to throw shots at Giannis and Jabari. The comments don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, but the fact that the Bucks were able to get under the skin of the champs says a lot about the way they play.