The Milwaukee Bucks have been exceptional since returning to the regular season following the All-Star break. They have won all five games and sit alongside the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics as the only teams to win all their games post-All-Star weekend.
A hard-fought victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves started the run before comfortable wins over the Philadelphia 76ers, two wins against the Charlotte Hornets and the Chicago Bulls. This momentum comes at a good time with the Bucks about to run a gauntlet of a schedule.
In March, they will take on the Clippers and Lakers twice, the Warriors, Kings, Sixers, Suns, Celtics and Thunder, with all of these games being a real test as to where the Bucks really are now under the leadership of Doc Rivers.
This stretch has been some of, if not the best, basketball Milwaukee has played this season, partially due to the additions of Patrick Beverley and Danilo Gallinari, but also Doc Rivers finally getting the opportunity to make his mark on the team.
With the Bucks about to head into a tough run of games, let's take a look at three post-All-Star stats that stand out for Milwaukee.
Stat 1 - The Bucks have the best defensive rating post-All-Star
You read that correctly. The team that sat in the bottom 10 for defensive rating during Adrian Griffin's tenure has the best defense since the All-Star game, and it is by some distance as well.
Over the past five games, they have a defensive rating of 101.5. The next best is the Timberwolves with a 104 rating, per NBA.com. This is mainly due to the sheer number of switches now on defense and not leaving Brook Lopez so exposed and having to defend on the perimeter, which allows him to do what he does best and defend the paint. There is a reason why he was second in Defensive Player of the Year voting last year. Schematically, it wasn't suited to his strengths early on.
The Bucks have held their opponents to less than 100 points in four straight games, and they only gave up 107 to Minnesota. The offense has dipped slightly from the early season form, but with Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, they have two MVP-caliber players who can take over a game, and let's not forget that Khris Middleton is still yet to return to the court.
This run coming up is going to be a real test of how good the Bucks' defense really is. I would expect the defensive rating to get worse due to the level of teams they are playing, but I still think this is the chance for the Bucks to put the league back on notice that they are serious contenders.
Stat 2 - The Bucks have the best defended field goal percentage post-All-Star
As stat one shows, the Bucks' defense as a whole has massively improved, so this second stat is somewhat more specific to that uptick. On the season, Milwaukee has the 12th best defended field goal percentage at 46.9. Post-All-Star break, it is down to 40.8, again, with a decent margin to the Timberwolves, who are second.
Being able to see this stat drop is nothing but good news for the Bucks. Not only are they contesting shots more, but the quality of contests is also better, making it harder for teams to hit those shots over them.
It is down to the rotations and switching that this has been an improvement, but also, I think the bench unit has stepped it up recently following the addition of Beverley. He was the perfect addition to bring some grit and energy off the bench. Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton's contributions on both ends are also starting to improve, and their impact is being felt more during games.
The teams the Bucks beat during their win streak have been some of the weaker teams they have played, along with the undermanned Sixers and Timberwolves. This percentage should see an increase over the coming weeks due to the strength of opponent, but if they manage to keep it fairly low then they have a chance of ending the month with a really strong record.
Stat 3 - The Bucks are second in +/- post-All-Star
With the strong defense holding opponents to less than 100 points, Milwaukee has seen a real jump in the +/- category post-All-Star. Of course, winning all five games does inflate this statistic, but Milwaukee's +/- is at +18.4, which is second to the Boston Celtics, who sit at +25.8 per game.
The Celtics' huge 52-point win over the Warriors does impact that massively, with the other four wins of theirs coming to a +/- of +19.25, so the Bucks are showing that they can keep pace in some regards.
As mentioned, we have seen a slight drop in the points scored by the Bucks, but they are still scoring at a decent rate and at a good efficiency. One problem the Bucks had during Griffin's reign was that when they beat lower-ranked teams, they were making hard work of it. Milwaukee was winning games but scraping by the likes of the Spurs and Pistons. Now, they are making sure they continue to get their points, but the increase in defense has been massive in holding teams to less than 100 points.
It has mostly been defensive stats that have seen their increase post-All-Star break. Even without looking at the stats, it is obvious where the Bucks have improved before heading into a really tough run of games that can be season defining not only in how they are viewed but what seed they hold heading into the postseason.
Stay tuned for more Bucks analysis in the final months of the regular season.