Charlotte at Milwaukee
Time: 7 PM CT (FS Wisconsin; NBA League Pass)
Spread: MIL -5
Total: 211.5
Odds c/o 5dimes
CHA
The Hornets simply are nothing but a mediocre team too heavily dependent upon one-star guard (Kemba Walker). Walker has averaged 22.6 points per game, but second-leading scorer Dwight Howard lingers behind at just under 16 a contest. Jeremy Lamb has improved but should not represent the team’s third-leading scorer necessarily, not if it is to be a team taken seriously as a playoff threat.
Charlotte averages 104.4 points per game, but it really needs to increase that mark, especially since it is giving up 106.4 points per game. While defensive improvement is possible, certainly, with a center like Howard still is manning the paint, the Hornets should have more scoring potential than it has exhibited to this point in the season.
Nicolas Batum began the year injured and is still rounding into shape and finding his way this season. Batum ideally keys the team as its primary playmaker, and he also enables Walker to play off the ball more where the former UConn Husky can be most effective. While Walker certainly thrives in pick and roll sets, he is more dangerous lurking the wings with Batum setting up the offense. All of these observations are supported statistically as Charlotte was a .500-plus team last season when Batum had seven assists or more.
Yet, the team is still trying to find a way to get blood from oranges, and all without using rookie guard Malik Monk all that heavily. It is clear the subtraction of Jeremy Lin two seasons had a much deeper and longer-lasting effect than most realized it would when the talented combo guard departed for Brooklyn. It is hard to say that just that one move is what has rendered Charlotte so absolutely mediocre, but Howard is unlikely to ever return to his days as a 21-point-per-game scorer, and no one outside of Batum can really be said to be underachieving. It is just hard to dream up many scenarios by which the Hornets turn things around this season, and the fall into the lottery should only be perpetuated by the team with the Eastern Conferences’ third-worst mark thus far.
MIL
Milwaukee most recently defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 119-116. Milwaukee is now 16-13 and sits No.3 in the Central Division standings.
The Bucks have rode the unparalleled play of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is looking more and more like a true superstar this season.
The “Greek Freak” is averaging 29.7 points, 10.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while also making a colossal impact defensively where he comes up with 1.86 steals and 1.46 blocks nightly.
Giannis is a two-way player, and perhaps the league’s best, with all due respect to the injured Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, and others. Antetokounmpo’s length and athleticism make him a different kind of x-factor for the Bucks, since he truly can take over a game with his play on either end of the court. His PER of 31.2 is the highest at his position, whatever position that is (sarcasm, yes).
While ostensibly defined as a power forward, he handles the ball as much and much like a point guard, while the Bucks really lack a premier playmaker (Antetokounmpo leads the team in assists). The addition of Eric Bledsoe was a nice injection of talent at the low cost of a misfitting Greg Monroe, and Bledsoe has averaged 17.9 points and 4.1 assists per game as a Buck. Khris Middleton is quietly having an All-Star caliber season with 20.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.
Outside of that top-three pairing, the Bucks also have last season’s Rookie of the Year, Malcolm Brogdon. Brogdon is a stout defender and consistent performer on both ends of the court. Even Tony Snell and John Henson have done well in more clearly defined roles. The Bucks probably are still a little short on depth, but that could change if Then Maker continues to develop into an effective center. The second year big man is averaging just 4.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, but the eye test reveals a long athletic big man who could eventually be a major factor down the road for Milwaukee.
Even if he is not, even if it takes another offseason to add more depth, the Bucks are a team on the rise on the transcending talents of Antetokounmpo. Injured star Jabari Parker does loom as a possible source of help, but after tearing the same ACL for the second time in his career, updates have been scarce in coming regarding the former No. 2 overall pick.
