Milwaukee Bucks vs Philadelphia 76ers

The first third of the season is done in the NBA and we are “leaving” behind this year. We are about to take a look at three takes, while we are getting ready for the New Year’s Eve.

The Bucks are the best team in the league

The Milwaukee Bucks are quite impressive, while having the best record in the NBA. Giannis and Co. have won 30 of their first 35 games being in a better position than last year. Eight players are in the top-20 in Net Rating as long as starters go with six of them being starting-five regulars (Antetokounmpo, Bledsoe, Middleton, DiVincenzo, Matthews).

The other two are Ersan Iliasova and Robin Lopez. Also, they are better defensively conceding 3.9 points less than the previous year on 101.2 points per 100 possessions. It remains to be seen if they will show the same mentality during the Playoffs, right now they have surpassed last season’s “greatness” and that’s the biggest surprise. 

The 76ers are not the contenders we thought they will be 

Many fans remain optimistic about the Sixers’ chances of reaching the Finals of the NBA this season, but until now they are having a disappointing year for their loyal fan base. Bret Brown’s team remains 5th in the East, after 35 games, being seven games behind the Bucks and 5.5 games behind the second team in the Conference, the Boston Celtics. The biggest problem for them right know is their “behavior” in the “clutch” moments of the game.

In the last five minutes of a contest, Philadelphia is becoming a mediocre team. Namely, they are 13th in points, 25th in FGs made, 21st in 3P%, 15th in rebounds, 20th in assist and the fourth worst team in turnover per possession. The Sixers stars are not on the same page with the team’s aspirations for a title and maybe the burden of the potential contender is weighting more than what Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons can handle in this phase of their career.

The Thunder out of nowhere

The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently on the way to surpass their projected win total of 31.5 wins of the per-season predictions. Their roster is a mix of good young talent and veteran leadership. Being the 7th seed on a tough Western Conference, Oklahoma City is on the middle of a 10-4 record in their last 14 games surpassing the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference standings.

The Thunder changed their playing style and Billy Donovan is exploiting Chris Paul’s presence in their roster to bring up the offensive talents of other players. Namely, Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, Danilo Galinari and Dennis Schroder are scoring +18 points per game, while five players are averaging double digits in points per contest. They are a top-5 team in pick n’ roll situation in points per possessions, while they are second in isolation plays as long as productivity goes.

After the departure of Russell Westbrook, the Thunder slowed down their pace (99.4 possessions per 100) being among the top-10 best teams in turnovers per game (9th) and the 11th best team in AS/TO ratio (1.50). Oklahoma City is entering the 2020 in a fairly good “note”, it remains to be seen if this will lead them to the Playoffs.