It's been an eventful 21-game start to the NBA season for the Milwaukee Bucks, dealing with their share of winning and losing streaks.
Currently, they sit at 11-10 after having their seven-game win streak snapped by the Atlanta Hawks. Despite looking like a better team recently, plenty of people aren't buying into the Bucks. A sizeable part of that is due to them having a 10-3 record against teams that are .500 or worse and just a 1-7 record against teams boasting a winning record.
People don't think the Bucks can beat good teams. A loss goes in the book as a loss no matter what, but Milwaukee has actually played the top teams pretty well this season, losing two contests to the Cleveland Cavaliers by a combined three points and dropping two games to the Boston Celtics by single digits, fighting until the end.
The Bucks can push back against this narrative in their next matchup, which just so happens to be a nationally televised contest against the Boston Celtics.
The Milwaukee Bucks have a measuring stick game coming up
Whenever these two teams play, it is always must-see television. Something ignites in both teams to give fans a show for 48 minutes. The Celtics, currently 18-4 on the season, are competing for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, and the NBA, and will certainly be among the teams the Bucks have to go through if they ever want to get back to the NBA's mountaintop.
A regular season game in December is not the end all be all in terms of seeing the team the Bucks want to be, but a win could do a lot of good amid the team's rocky start.
The Bucks need one of those showings like they had last season on January 11 against the Celtics. Coming out focused and understanding the severity of their opponent, everything clicked for them as they shot the ball, played defense and did all of the little things well. So well, in fact, that they were up 75-38 at the half and cruised to a win.
Can the Milwaukee Bucks do something like that again? Of course; they simply must execute, which they didn't do against the Atlanta Hawks. It's far easier said than done.
It would also help if the Bucks got Khris Middleton back for this matchup. The forward was rumored to make his season debut after Thanksgiving, and Friday's meeting will be more than a week beyond the holiday. The next injury report will be fascinating.
Middleton or not, Friday's matchup will be a crucial one as the Milwaukee Bucks aim to start another win streak. After dropping those four early-season matchups against Cleveland and Boston, it would be a confidence booster to finally take one of them down.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis.