Milwaukee Bucks: Paris trip can offer perfectly timed respite

With the Milwaukee Bucks preparing for Friday’s game in Paris, the trip overseas could have unforeseen advantages as the team’s championship pursuit goes on.

The old adage goes that a change is as good as a rest, but with the Milwaukee Bucks currently in France ahead of the NBA’s latest showcase game, the reality is that they may ultimately get to receive the benefits of both.

In the middle of the 82-game slog that is the NBA regular season, the Bucks are getting to experience a pretty stark change of scenery and a notable break to what can be the year upon year monotony of the NBA. Along with the Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee will play in the league’s first ever regular season match in Paris on Friday night.

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Having last played on Monday afternoon against the Bulls, and not back in action Stateside until Tuesday of next week, the Bucks are also getting to soak up some unusual pre All-Star break rest. That particularly sparse stretch in the schedule is designed to ensure that travel and jet lag don’t prove to be overwhelming issues for either team in Paris, but it also provides an incredibly rare opportunity for everyone on the team to go a few days without the peak intensity of a game.

Not only does that afford a chance for the inevitable bumps and bruises being carried 45 games into the season to potentially subside, but even more importantly, it affords a form of respite from the mental pressures of being the league’s leading championship contender too.

With showcase games in Europe a staple on the NBA calendar for the best part of a decade now, at this point, the dynamic of these trips is not a secret by any means.

For fans, it’s often concerns about travel and jet lag disrupting the team that can come to the forefront of the discussion, but coaches and players alike have long praised the benefits of these trips off the court.

Already this week, Bucks players will have had a chance to soak up the sights, sounds, and tastes of a new and, in this case, somewhat exotic city, not just with their teammates, but also with family members. Not just making for a break from the grind, this gives an opportunity for the kind of fun and bonding that the relentlessness of the schedule doesn’t usually allow for.

What’s particularly interesting in that regard, is to consider the opportunity facing the Bucks after their Paris trip. Speaking from the personal experience of having attended the majority of the NBA’s European outings for close to the last decade, there has never been a team involved in these games that’s close to as good as this Bucks group is.

Already boasting what’s easily the best record in the entire NBA, the Bucks are facing up to a long season that they’ll hope will run all the way into June. Having come through a particularly busy schedule early in the season to allow for the slower pace of this eight day stretch, the Bucks have already navigated one of the bigger challenges attached to a trip like this, that being bouts of schedule congestion, with an overall record of 39-6.

The luxury of having a chance to recharge their batteries somewhat, while also deepening their already formidable bonds as a group, should not be underestimated. Given that Giannis Antetokounmpo certainly won’t have much of a chance to rest over the All-Star break, and that the same may end up being said for Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton, the pace slowing down for this Paris trip could prove to be crucial in the longer-term for the Bucks.

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Once Friday comes around, all attention will shift to simply picking up another win against the Hornets and, beyond that, maintaining that kind of form when the Bucks return home for a three-game homestand next week.

If come June, dreams come true, and Bucks players are tasked with reflecting on this season with the Larry O’Brien trophy in hand, don’t be surprised if this trip to Paris proves to be one of the landmark off-the-court moments that comes to mind for many of them.