Both the Bucks and Nets won their first-round series convincingly and will square off in Round 2. The winner will go onto face the winner of the Hawks-76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Nets have been favorites to win the title for a while now and are -200 to win this series. After the Lakers loss, odds will certainly shift for the NBA Final Odds. Although you could argue with their injury situation and supporting cast that they would struggle even if they had advanced.
Opening Series Odds
- Bucks +160
- Nets -200
Matchup Analysis
Milwaukee was able to regroup on the defensive end in the Miami series, after finishing 22nd in defensive efficiency this season. They were first in offensive efficency. Brooklyn was second and then 21st in defensive efficiency. It is hard to use the regular season numbers against each other because the Nets were not a complete team for most of the season and the meetings were towards the end of the season with a lot wrapped up. Both were high scoring games and I expect a lot of high totals set.
It will be interesting to follow how the Bucks use Giannis this series because he didn’t play at center in the first round, where a majority of it was Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis. Brooklyn was in the same boat where they finally sat DeAndre Jordan and used Durant, Green, and Claxton at center. Milwaukee will be able to get their numbers but defensively it will be tougher defending all three of the stars. Giannis should be on Durant, while Holiday will need to pester one of Irving or Harden.
Both benches are medicore and we should see a lot of smaller rotations in tight games. Joe Harris continues to be the x-factor that isn’t a superstar because he is one of the best three point shooters in the game. Beating the Nets four times continues to be the tough task, and this series should go deep but the Nets offense barring injury is too tough to slow down for four games.
