Betting the Milwaukee Bucks: Win total, title odds, and MVP
By Logan Beatty
With the Milwaukee Bucks’ season taking off with an opening win in Houston, let’s dive into the odds that Vegas has set for the team this season.
Welcome friends, fellow degenerates, and those who are curious about the ancient art of giving your money away to my first installment of Betting the Milwaukee Bucks!
With the Bucks’ season just underway, let’s take a dive into the odds that the sharks in the desert, or as normal people would say, Vegas, have set for our beloved Bucks.
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Learning From Last Year
Last season, the Bucks were expected to be a playoff team, but they changed the NBA landscape when they exploded for a 60-win season during Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s MVP campaign. With Vegas setting their win total for Milwaukee last season at 48.5, it’s safe to say they were surprised as well.
That would be the theme for the 2018-19 Milwaukee Bucks. They were an astounding 57-36-4 (61.3 percent) against the spread last regular season and playoffs, and were an equally ridiculous 48-31-4 (60.8 percent) as a favorite. What do all those numbers mean? Well, if you bet with the Bucks last season, you were probably able to stash away enough cash to make the Monopoly guy blush (psst…thanks for the free parking).
With much of the same core in tact, the Bucks won’t be surprising anyone this season. Prepare to see wider spreads and the Bucks being predominately favored for much of the season.
Win totals, title odds, and MVP
As one of two clear top dogs in a much maligned Eastern Conference, The Action Network has the Bucks’ win total line for this season set at a league-leading 57 wins, 2.5 more than East rival Philadelphia (54.5) and three more than the Western Conference favorite LA Clippers (54).
On one hand, many key contributors are hot off a full summer slate of FIBA World Cup games and Nike tours; it’s safe to assume that on many nights you could see some DNP – Load Management in the box scores for the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, and Eric Bledsoe. On the other hand, they’re in the East. This means Cleveland four times, the Wizards four times, the Knicks three times…you understand what I’m saying. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Mike Budenholzer manages the minutes this season.
The Bucks are a heavy betting favorite in just about every category you could look at. Want to take Milwaukee to win the Central? Well at -899 odds, a bet of $100 dollars would bring you home just $11 bucks (see what I did) come April. They also lead the odds for winning the Eastern Conference at +156, and are in the top-3 for odds to hoist the Larry O’Brien at +574. Not exactly a long shot.
The same could be said about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s chance at back to back MVP’s. Last season, Giannis was able to nab the trophy while only playing 32.8 minutes per game in 72 contests, his lowest minutes total since 2014-15. The Greek Freak’s odds have floated around the +270 mark to lead all competitors.
Next. Milwaukee Bucks: 10 most intriguing games this season. dark
Can he possibly make another jump in production this season? I can’t wait to find out.