3 things to watch in Milwaukee Bucks MVP showdown vs Denver Nuggets
The Milwaukee Bucks started their three-game homestand with a solid win on Friday over the New York Knicks, have won four of their last five, and now host the Denver Nuggets in a battle between the winners of the last three MVP awards.
This is the second and final meeting between the two teams this season after the Bucks won in Denver back in late November. The Bucks’ big three starred in that game as well as getting 20 points off the bench from Pat Connaughton. The Nuggets didn’t have the reigning MVP and this season’s possible frontrunner Nikola Jokic for their first meeting, but he is expected to play tonight.
Milwaukee hasn’t won at home against Denver since November 19th, 2018, so they’ll be looking to break that strange losing streak as well as start to pick up some wins now that they’re (mostly) fully healthy save for Brook Lopez and George Hill who is listed as doubtful with neck soreness.
The battle between two of the leading candidates for MVP
After being robbed of the chance to see Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jokic square off earlier this season, we’ll get the much-anticipated battle tonight as both players are having terrific, MVP-worthy seasons once again.
Jokic, the reigning regular season MVP, might be having an even better campaign than he did last season. He’s averaging over 26 points on 65.3 percent true shooting, as well as nearly 14 rebounds and eight assists. He’s on pace for the highest Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of all time and while PER is a flawed stat, that’s still pretty incredible.
In two games against the Bucks last season, Jokic averaged 36 points on nearly 67 percent true shooting, 11 rebounds, and 8.5 steals. He’s so dominant and he’s arguably been the best player in the NBA this season, leading a Nuggets roster that has been without Jamal Murray for the entire season and Michael Porter Jr. for most of it.
I don’t need to remind Bucks fans about Antetokounmpo’s greatness this season or in general, but simply for comparison’s sake, he is averaging nearly 29 points on 61.6 percent true shooting, 11.3 rebounds, nearly six assists, and 1.4 blocks per game.
The argument can be made that he is the best two-way player in the game right now. In the two games against Denver last season, the reigning Finals MVP averaged 28.5 points on 62.1 percent true shooting and 8.5 rebounds as well as five total blocks.
Seeing these two incredible players going against each other when they’re playing at the level that they are this season is going to be a lot of fun tonight.