No. 1. Milwaukee Bucks
It is weird to say that the Milwaukee Bucks are “championship pretenders” this season, but let me explain why they are ranked here. Not only has Giannis Antetokounmpo been missing games left and right with a mysterious knee injury, but this is the same knee injury that kept Giannis out of some games last season in the NBA Bubble.
Assuming he will be healthy to go for the end of the season and into the playoffs, the Bucks will definitely be one of the team’s to beat in the Eastern Conference, but overall, this team has not performed well in the playoffs as of late.
In two straight seasons with the best record in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks lost in the ECF in 2019 and then in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in the NBA Bubble last season. While they are a great offensive team in terms of production, the Bucks offense becomes very stagnant at times, especially with Giannis on the court.
They are definitely not a better team without him on the court, but at times, they give the ball to Giannis and just stand there watching him try to go one on three against the opposing defense. This is not going to work for a championship contending team like the Bucks, which is exactly why they are pretenders.
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Until we see them do something different and make the necessary adjustments, this team is not going to have playoff success, especially against the league’s top teams. This “give the ball to Giannis and get out of the way” philosophy is not going to work against the Nets and the 76ers and it probably won’t work against teams like the Heat or Celtics either!
The Bucks still have two games against both the Nets and the 76ers left on their schedule, which will be key benchmark games to watch to see how the Bucks matchup with the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, but right now, it is hard to say that Milwaukee has a chance to beat either of these teams in a 7-game series with Giannis dealing with knee issues and the fact that their offense is not as good as the numbers say it is.
