With Christmas marking something of a significant milestone in the NBA, we take a look at how the Milwaukee Bucks have placed in the standings on that day over the last 20 years.
Although it’s really just an arbitrary point in the lengthy NBA season, Christmas Day always represent something of a milestone or a checkpoint for NBA franchises.
Much like the All-Star break, it’s a moment when fans and experts often look around the league to see what kind of shape the season’s standings are taking on.
With the NFL season winding down, the attention of the average sports fan often starts to swing toward the NBA, beginning with an always busy and star-studded slate of Christmas Day games.
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Although the Milwaukee Bucks won’t be partaking in those festivities for at least another year, there’ll be plenty of more casual fans looking for the lie of the land in the NBA at this point in the season, and the Bucks’ overall standing should be of interest.
Milwaukee reached the festive period this year with a record of 17-14, which was good enough for sixth in the East and left them just a game back of a coveted top-four ranking.
Although the season hasn’t been without its disappointments and let-downs — and considering the immense talent on the roster, the team certainly could and probably should be better — the Bucks are still in a very good spot.
In fact, over the past couple of decades, they’ve rarely been as well placed at this juncture of the season.
Over the 20 seasons prior to the current campaign, Milwaukee has only been over .500 on five occasions at Christmas. In fact, their record from the start of the season to Christmas over that time is a very underwhelming 225-258 (0.465).
Even among those five exceptions, it’s been rare for the Bucks to be too far above .500. Only the 2001-02 and 2005-06 seasons can better the team’s record of the current season, with the Bucks boasting a record of 15-9 over the festive season on both of those occasions.
With all of this in mind, what could be in store for the Bucks over the remainder of this season?
It bears noting that in 2000-01, the franchise’s most successful season across that span, the Bucks were only two games above .500 at 14-12 on Christmas Day. From there they went on to finish the year 38-18 for an overall record of 52-30, finish second in the East, and reach the Conference Finals where it took seven games (and some still contentious officiating) to prevent them from beating Philadelphia.
Would a similar feat be within this team’s grasp? Considering Giannis Antetokounmpo is probably the franchise’s most gifted player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and a supporting cast of Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, Malcolm Brogdon, Jabari Parker and Tony Snell make up the team’s best group since 2001 at the least, it’s certainly not impossible.
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The Bucks have plenty of issues to iron out in the coming months, but if they can do so, this could still end up being a very special season.