Milwaukee Bucks: 3 key things to watch for vs Oklahoma City Thunder
The Milwaukee Bucks are slowly getting healthier, they picked up a big win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, and they continue their five-game homestand tonight against the (surprisingly frisky) Oklahoma City Thunder. The Bucks are 7-8 on the season and, for those of you who care about the standings this early in the season, they are only a few games out of first place in the East! Things are slowly improving!
As I mentioned, the Thunder have been pretty competitive to begin the season. They sit at 6-8 and have won five of their last seven games, including two wins over the Lakers this season. This will be the first meeting between the teams this season and the Bucks have surprisingly gone 3-3 against them in the last three seasons, which includes a split of the season series last year, so it’s certainly not an opponent to take too lightly.
That being said, the Bucks should be expected to beat the Thunder, even if they didn’t have Khris Middleton back in the lineup. If they want to get back on track, it’s more than just beating a struggling Lakers team, they’ll have to take care of business tonight against a team they should beat.
How will the Milwaukee Bucks avoid a letdown game against the Oklahoma City Thunder?
Following a big win on a national TV game against one of the biggest market teams, it would be easy to relax and take it easy for the next game, also at home, against a team that you’re expected to beat rather easily. The Bucks cannot allow that to happen tonight.
The Thunder have shown they can be a competitive team, especially when another team takes them too lightly and doesn’t show up at their best. This game is the first half of a back-to-back so in an ideal world, they’ll want to be able to rest their stars in the second half for the following game. That can only happen if they get out to a big lead early in the game and make a statement.
I mentioned this ahead of the Lakers game, but there is a chance here for the Bucks to sweep this five-game homestand, get to 11-8, and all of a sudden fans aren’t freaking out anymore. They picked up the first win in a tough game, so now it’s about avoiding a letdown against a team that is considered to be weaker but can give you a tough game if you let them hang around.
Giannis Antetokounmpo echoed a similar sentiment in his postgame availability after the game against the Lakers. “When we’re up 10, 12, 15, we got to start putting teams away,” Antetokounmpo told reporters. “We have to start building that habit. We’re here to play, we’re here to compete. Like I said, when we’re up 15, we can’t take a step back, we have to attack.” We’ll see if the Bucks can take that advice and put it to use tonight.