7:40 pm
June 5

Bucks @ Nets

Who will WIN this matchup?

Milwaukee Bucks (46-26)

@ Brooklyn Nets (48-24)

 

Current odds:

Milwaukee Bucks: (+165)

Brooklyn Nets: (-185)

 

• The spread for the game is Brooklyn by 4 points.

• The Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks owned the NBA’s two most prolific offenses in the regular season, and neither team let up while recording stress-free wins in their first-round series. Offense likely will be plentiful on Saturday when Brooklyn hosts Milwaukee in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in a series many figure will be a slugfest.

• Led by Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, the Nets are in the semifinals for the first time since 2014 when an aging Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce along with Joe Johnson and Deron Williams helped them escape a grueling seven-game series with the Toronto Raptors. That team, however, bowed out in five games to LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

• The Bucks are in the second round for the third straight season after not advancing past the first round since 2001. Last season, they were the top seed in the NBA bubble but bowed out in five games against Miami. Milwaukee, which led the league by averaging 120.1 points, is playing its first game since completing a four-game sweep of Miami last Saturday. The Bucks opened the series with a two-point victory in overtime and then won the next three games by an average of 26.7 points.

• Brooklyn, which averaged 118.6 points during the regular season, needed five games to get past the Boston Celtics in its first extended minutes for Durant, Harden and Irving. Due to injuries and rest, the trio played eight games together during the regular season, and against the Celtics, they played 130 minutes together. Against Boston, each star thrived. Durant averaged 32.6 points on 54.6 percent shooting, Harden averaged 27.8 and 10.6 assists on 55.6 percent shooting and Irving averaged 24.8 on 49.4 percent. The Nets averaged 123.4 points, shot 49.6 percent from the floor and hit 42.6 percent from 3-point range.

5/10
Confidence
StreakSmarter Pick
Brooklyn Nets
Previous Pick
Next Pick