Milwaukee Bucks vs. Brooklyn Nets Game 1 Prediction, Playoff Odds
With only one loss combined between them in the first round, there will be plenty of firepower on display in this series, as Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks head to Brooklyn to face the Nets’ “Big 3” on Saturday for Game 1. Milwaukee is coming off a first-round sweep of Miami. They’ll face a Brooklyn team that only needed five games to dispatch the Boston Celtics.
Brooklyn opens Game 1 as a 4-point favourite to win on the NBA odds, with a total of 239.5.
Bucks vs. Nets NBA Playoff Odds
Home court was the deciding factor between these teams in the regular season series. The Nets won in Brooklyn the first time these teams met in January, before the Bucks took back-to-back meetings in Milwaukee in early May. The total went Under in two of the three games. Brooklyn is an early -237 favourite to win this series, while Milwaukee sits as a +175 dog.
Milwaukee has thrived against the Nets. The Bucks have won 16 of the last 20 games between these teams, including eight of the last nine contests in Brooklyn. They were 22-16 on the road this year, but they only managed to cover in 16 of those games. Milwaukee has hit the Over in four of their last five road games. At +250, they have the second-best odds to win the Eastern Conference and they’re at +500 to win the NBA Championship.
Now comes the first real test of this star-studded Nets lineup. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games overall and they were 31-8 at home in the regular season. Brooklyn is 9-1 against the spread in their last 10 games overall and 6-0 ATS in their last six home games. The futures board has the Nets listed as -154 favourites to win the East and +150 favourites to win the NBA Championship.
Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee’s defence will be key in this series, as it will be the first time they’re facing Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, all playing together. Jrue Holiday will likely be a big piece of that defence. Holiday never faced Harden and Irving in the same game, but he was the primary defender on each of them when they were in the lineup. As for Durant, we’ll likely see Khris Middleton tasked with slowing him down. Middleton guarded Durant more than any other Bucks player over the three regular season games. Combine those matchups with Antetokounmpo, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and Milwaukee’s defence looks scary.
The issue with the Bucks’ defensive matchups, is they can’t let the offence slip at the same time. Middleton averaged 21.5 points per game in the first round against Miami, while Holiday put up 15.3 points and 9.8 assists. Those numbers need to at least stay the same, if not improve, to offset Brooklyn’s offence. This series could also be a favourable matchup for Antetokounmpo, who averaged a monstrous 39.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists in three games against the Nets.
Brooklyn Nets
With all the focus shining on Brooklyn’s big three, Blake Griffin could actually be an X-factor in this series. In the two games against the Bucks in May, it was Griffin who was primarily responsible for covering Antetokounmpo. While Griffin was on the floor, the Nets were able to hold Antetokounmpo to 22 points on 8-for-22 shooting from the field over the two May games. To shutdown a player who averaged over 28 points per game in the regular season, like Griffin did to Antetokounmpo, it’s easy to see why Brooklyn is the early favourite in this series.
Durant has hit another level in the postseason and he’ll be the offensive leader in this series. In the first round against Boston, he averaged 32.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists. Durant was shooting 54.5 per cent from the field, 50 per cent from the 3-point line and 94.5 per cent from the free-throw line.
MIL
BK