The Milwaukee Bucks host the defending-champion Golden State Warriors on Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, which figures to hold its largest and loudest crowd since the home opener.
The undefeated and enthralling Warriors are off to the best overall start in NBA history and on the longest road winning streak to begin a season. They’ve played 24 games in 2015-16 and have won every one of them, by a league-high average margin of 14.2 points. Stephen Curry is the reigning MVP and might actually be playing better this year. There are myriad statistics that convey Golden State’s extraordinary dominance.
So how can the Bucks possibly beat the Warriors?
Well, starting wings Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes, the team’s second- and fourth-leading scorers, respectively, are nursing ankle injuries. Barnes is out, while Thompson is day-to-day and questionable for Saturday night. Potentially less firepower!
Golden State is playing the seventh game of a seven-game road trip and coming off a grueling, double-overtime win in Boston on Friday. While it’s trying to become the first NBA team ever to go 7-0 on a road trip of such length, the Warriors endured their first under-40 percent shooting performance in 53 regular-season games last night. Perhaps promising!
Milwaukee, which lost in Toronto on Friday, is 4-1 in the second game of back-to-backs – no matter that their wins were against Brooklyn, New York and Denver twice. Somewhat encouraging!
And, hey, in the 2012-13 season, the Bucks (thanks to Monta Ellis!) beat the Warriors both times the teams played, by an average of 8.5 points (and Curry played in each game!). Of course, Golden State has won the last four. But so what?
Milwaukee’s young players, especially Giannis Antetokounmpo, typically raise their levels of play in big games. The Bucks average the second-fewest number of possessions in the league (95.3 per 48 minutes), while the Warriors’ pace is the third-fastest (101.7). If Milwaukee can just slow down the game enough – Wisconsin Badgers-style – and Thompson doesn’t play and Curry has an off night and Golden State’s legs are finally too tired and …
Ah, who are we kidding? The Warriors, who are favored by eight points and have an 85 percent chance to win according to ESPN Stats & Info, will probably prevail.
But, hopefully, Bucks fans pack the house, boost the NBA’s third-worst attendance mark, make lots of noise (looking at you, Cream City Clash – don’t forget what Thompson said about Milwaukee) and give the Warriors a good game.
At least don't let Andrew Bogut score.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. Be there earlier to watch Curry’s pregame-warmup extravaganza.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
