Will the Nets take revenge?

Last season’s champion, the Milwaukee Bucks open the 75th season in the NBA! With the Brooklyn Nets, a heavyweight is dropping by. The first step towards a repeat will be especially difficult for coach Mike Budenholzer’s men.

Of course, the fact that the Nets were only narrowly beaten by the eventual champions in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in the last postseason is a further reason for this. So from Nash’s point of view, there is still a lot of unfinished business to be done!

For their part, the home side will rely heavily on Giannis Antetokounmpo, who shone as Finals MVP last season, to lead the Central Division outfit to a title defence. Brooklyn, on the other hand, cannot rely on the dream trio of Harden, KD and Kyrie Irving, as at least “Uncle Drew” will be missing.

For the Fiserv Forum matchup between Milwaukee and Brooklyn, the tip is aiming for less than 242.5 points in the game.

Milwaukee Bucks – Statistics & current form

The Bucks snatched their first championship in half a century last season. The most important factor in their success was the MVP of 2019 and 2020 in the person of Giannis Antetokounmpo. It is already clear now that whenever the Greek’s career will be over, his number “34” will be “retired” quite quickly with the Bucks.

The last superstar of his weight class in Milwaukee was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who, with the “33” on his jersey, was again instrumental in securing the previous championship for the Bucks. It has long been clear that the “Greek Freak” will once again play an exceptional role this season.

Antetokounmpo is in good form again

Proving that the top earner, just under 40 million a year, hasn’t rusted in the summer was the third preseason game against Oklahoma just over a week ago. After Antetokounmpo took a break in the first two games of the preparation, he took to the court for the first time against OKC and with him on board, the Bucks scored a whopping 48 points in the first quarter alone. The power forward almost delivered a triple-double in just 17 minutes.

Moreover, it was evident that the teamwork with Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton is already working excellently again. Both players are still on board in the Cream City and last year’s best offence, which managed 120.1 points per game in the regular season, is expected to perform again.

Against this backdrop, the odds on the hosts scoring more than 119.5 points in the duel between the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets are of additional interest.

While Antetokounmpo failed to increase his scoring and rebounding totals for the first time in his career last year, this was because he took a step back during the regular season to be more physically fresh for the playoffs. The comparatively short, previous off-season can also be taken as a reason.

Will the Bucks get the opening win?

In his first game as champion, he will undoubtedly not lack motivation and the Bucks’ motto “Fear the Dear” should apply to the 26-year-old in particular. For this reason, betting on a home win is also a good idea, as the home advantage is in Milwaukee’s favour and the visitors will be without Kyrie Irving.

Predicted Milwaukee Bucks lineup:
Antetokounmpo – Allen – Lopez – Holiday – Middleton

Brooklyn Nets – Statistics & current form

The Brooklyn Nets stayed right on the Bucks’ heels in terms of average scoring last season. No wonder, after signing James Harden, they had another top shooter in the NBA on board alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Head coach Steve Nash, who is entering his second season as coach, must otherwise contend with Kyrie Irving, however. Nothing new for Nash, of course, as Irving scrupulously cultivates his reputation as an “enfant terrible.”

Irving will not be involved

Who likes to smoke out the “evil spirits” in foreign arenas on his own, or is apparently not quite sure about the shape of the earth, now rather unsurprisingly also has a problem with the inoculation against Corona. So far, “Uncle Drew” hasn’t been able to bring himself to inject it, creating a real problem for the Nets.

Irving could play in Milwaukee, but the point guard would have to watch the home games at the Barclays Center because only vaccinated people are allowed in the sports arenas in the city. But with Brooklyn not keen on a highly-paid part-time player, Irving was removed from the squad last week for now.

Stable preseason on the part of the Nets

Without Irving, of course, the Nets’ prospects of winning the title they crave would be much more tenuous, as the 29-year-old is one of the best players in the NBA at the point guard position, at least on the court. However, the preseason has been promising even in Irving’s absence, with preseason games including wins against the Lakers and upcoming opponents.

Predicted Brooklyn Nets line-up:
Brown – Griffin – Durant – Harden – Harris

Milwaukee Bucks – Brooklyn Nets Head-to-head comparison / H2H record

Last season, the Bucks prevailed in the second round of the postseason with a 4:3 series win over the basketballers from the “Borough of Trees”. Moreover, the decisive seventh game was a real “nailbiter”, as the victory for the Bucks only came in overtime.

The last head-to-head meeting was only a few days ago: In the preseason, the Nets won 119-115. However, this game was expected because Milwaukee spared its stars while the two-time ABA champion from the 1970s started with KD and “The Beard.

Nets have been waiting a while for their next win in Beer Town

The home side will also be pleased with their home statistics from the recent past: the last five home games against the professionals from the East Coast have all been won! For the next edition of Milwaukee Bucks vs Brooklyn Nets, the odds are very even

Milwaukee Bucks – Brooklyn Nets Tip

The Nets will face a fit Giannis Antetokounmpo in the season opener. The Greek was spared last training camp, due to a knee injury suffered in last year’s Eastern Conference finals. But in the pre-season, the “Greek Freak” looked physically unaffected.

For the match in Mil Town between the Bucks and Nets, the forecast is less than 242.5 points. While the game pits the two best offensive lines of the recent season against each other, and one that ranked in the top 3 in field goal odds alongside the Suns to boot, the head-to-head duels haven’t typically been too high-paced in terms of points.

The selected point total has not been breached in nine meetings and the recent pre-season clash even saw a scoring total of under 200 at the end. In addition, the visitors will have to play without their normally very scoring point guard Kyrie Irving, which should diminish the offensive power.

The statistics from last season also support the prediction: In the 72 games of the regular season, the home side averaged around 234 points and the visitors 233. At Unibet, betting odds of 1.76 can be claimed for the clash between the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets.