NBA NEWS AND NOTES FOR SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2022

After winning the NBA title the previous season, the Milwaukee Bucks had an eventful season. They didn’t always exhibit the level of play that everyone expected each night, but that doesn’t seem to concern this Bucks team.

They won the championship despite not having the number one seed last season and lost in the previous playoffs with having the number one seed.

The Bucks began to look like the team everyone expected them to be once Brook Lopez returned, which makes sense when you think about it. Giannis had to switch positions, and Milwaukees’ rim protection and rebounding were at an all-time low.

The Bucks are still the best club in the Eastern Conference, despite their lack of dominance prior to Brook’s arrival. Here are four reasons why they are still the squad to beat.

Brook Lopez Looks Better Than Pre Surgery

Brook Lopez’s return to the Milwaukee Bucks provides the exact edge that this team needs. Lopez is one of basketball’s most underappreciated centers in the NBA, especially in this day and age.

Lopez, who can defend the rim at a high level while also shooting the three-point shot at an above-average rate for a center, is the reason why Milwaukee can now be the team they are predicted to be.

He’ll be able to stretch the floor at an exceptional level while also providing some of the finest rim protection in the league.

Roster Is An All-Time Best

For the playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks’ roster will be reduced down to a 7-8-man rotation. What they do with George Hill will be fun to watch, but he’ll most likely be the eighth or ninth pitcher in the rotation.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, Bobby Portis, Grayson Allen, Brook Lopez, Wesley Matthews, Pat Connaughton, and Serge Ibaka will all be in different lineups for the Bucks.

All of those players are not only top-tier players, but they also play excellent defense. Milwaukee is one of the best defensive teams in the NBA, and if these players can continue to defend at a high level while also scoring at a high level, as they did in the playoffs last season, they have a great chance of winning another championship.

Giannis Is The Best Player In The World

It’s difficult to argue with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s dominance. Most people feel he and Kevin Durant are the two best players in the world, and arguing otherwise is illogical.

What Giannis achieves on the defensive end of the court, on the other hand, might give him a big advantage over Durant. By any measure of the imagination, Durant isn’t a bad defender, but he can’t do everything Antetokounmpo can.

The Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA championship last season as a result of players stepping up, and Giannis Antetokounmpo has finally found a way to recreate his regular-season performance in the postseason.

Last year’s playoffs demonstrated to everyone that he is the best player in the planet, and there’s a case to be made that he has been for the previous three seasons. In the past three seasons, he has had two MVPs, a Defensive Player of the Year, an NBA title, and a Finals MVP.

If Giannis Antetokounmpo can duplicate his performance as the best player in the world throughout the playoffs, it’s impossible to see anyone beating this Milwaukee Bucks team.

Jrue Holiday

When also factoring in the type of offensive stats that Jrue Holiday has been able to produce for this Milwaukee Bucks team, it gives them even more of an edge. Many people fail to forget that Holiday didn’t have a great series against the Brooklyn Nets a season ago, and Milwaukee still won that series.

The reality of the situation is that whoever wins the series between the Milwaukee Bucks and either the Boston Celtics or Brooklyn Nets is most likely going to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.

If they can get contributions out of Holiday against those two teams that are similar to what he is doing now, the Bucks are unbeatable.

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