Milwaukee Bucks: Five-game homestand offers opportunity for consistency

With the start to the Milwaukee Bucks’ season anything but consistency, their five-game homestand gives them a chance to establish consistency.

We’re through the first 20 quarters of the Milwaukee Bucks‘ 2020-21 season and it’s safe to say they’re working out some significant kinks at the moment.

Standing at 2-3 after their three-game road trip after hitting up the Big Apple and a back-to-back down in South Beach, the Bucks return back home at a time where establishing a rhythm is atop of their list of priorities.

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There have been the tantalizing highs, all of which was best seen in their blowout victories over the Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat.

Whether it’s been smothering an inferior opponent on Christmas Day or bombing away a record-breaking 29 3-pointers, the new-look Bucks have shown that dominance that Bucks fans have come to expect over the last two seasons when things have been clicking.

It’s when they haven’t been clicking on all cylinders that have shown the growing pains of a team that is starting to get to know one another in the most unusual of seasons.

Certainly, their 20-point loss to the New York Knicks was a bitter pill to swallow to open their road trip. Their second half meltdown against the Heat on the second night of a back-to-back brought about the same images that came about when both teams met in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last season.

As the Milwaukee Bucks start a five-game homestand Friday night, putting forth a complete effort would go a long way to fixing their inconsistencies.

Despite their peaks and valleys, the Bucks stand at 2-3 with a +54 point differential, the second-highest mark in the NBA so far and that has been surely helped by their lopsided victories to date.

By kicking off a five-game homestand that is largely comes against central division rivals such as the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers as well as a stiff test against the Utah jazz, the Bucks have a week-long stretch to fine tune their chemistry in their friendly confines.

Putting together a more complete performance over 48 minutes will certainly cure what ails the Bucks at the moment, just as head coach Mike Budenholzer assessed following the team’s defeat to the Heat Wednesday night, per ESPN’s Eric Woodyard:

"“We need to be more consistent. We need to be better. But I think there’s positives where we played well for big stretches of games, and we’ve just got to extend those,” Budenholzer said. “We’ve got to be better for more of the 48 [minutes], and that’s what it takes.”"

There’s no question that some of the concerns the Bucks have shown so far come with the territory of turning over half of their roster during the offseason. Yet the offensive struggles and the defensive lapses that have surfaced at various points remain a troubling issue, regardless of the new faces that may be on the roster.

Regardless, jumping to early conclusions is a fool’s errand when it comes to where the Bucks are currently and where they will be months from now. With time, the process of becoming a more complete unit could lift the Bucks where they ultimately want to go this season.

For the time being, shoring up their miscues and irregularities on the court is the pressing obstacle to tackle. With five home games in the next seven days, the Bucks have plenty of opportunity to bring together the habits and attributes that we’ve come to seeing in Milwaukee the last couple of seasons.