Milwuakee Bucks vs Brooklyn Nets

In a second round playoff matchup of the 1 vs 4 seeds out East, we have a star-studded matchup in tow.  The two teams are led by premiere stars in the NLL.  Milwuakee led by the Greek Freak, while the Nets are buoyed by Steph Curry.  Both teams stars are supplemented by other stars as well, as each players supporting cast is amongst the best in all of the NLL.  Players like Zach Lavine, Trae Young, and Jussuf Nurkic should make a large impact in the series for Milwuakee, while the Nets should receive some help from the likes of Kris Middleton, DeAaron Fox, and Domantas Sabonis.  Let’s get right into the matchup by matchup breakdown!

Point Guards:

DeAaron Fox v Trae Young

A couple of guys who can fill it up will face off against eachother at the point guard spot in this matchup.  Both players have found different ways to excel in the league.  Fox with pure speed, athleticism, and an evolving shot, while Trae young has endless range and a knack for finding an open teammate.  In this installment of 2k, I do believe Fox gets the not here mainly due to his athletic advantages, though I am not sure either player can contain the other on the offensive end.

Slight Advantage: Fox

Shooting Guards:

Lavine vs. Curry

Yeah, it would be nice to have one of these guys on your team let alone having all these guys facing off on opposite teams.  These games might hit 250 easy.  Both guys are supreme scorers, Lavine much more adept at getting to the rim, but Curry is the leading scorer in the NLL for good reason, and his supremacy with regards to the rest of the league should really show here in this matchup.  Curry won’t likely be able to contain Lavine on the other end, though Lavine won’t have a chance on the defensive side if things are as they have been all season.

Advantage: Curry

Small Forwards:

Middleton vs Anthony Edwards

Both players are of similar mold, players who can shoot and defend, but might not be best off as the first option on their respective team.  Funnily enough they are both at best 3^rd options on their respective teams, so both find themselves in great positions to succeed both individually and as a team.  Middleton is advanced in his career, in almost every skillset as well, and as a result he gets the nod here as well.

Advantage: Middleton

Power Forwards:

Patt Williams vs Domantas Sabonis

The young vs the younger!  It wasn’t too long ago it seems when everyone had written off Domantas Sabonis across the league, including most notably long time GM VT of the Philadelphia 76ers.  Domantas arrived in Brooklyn by way of trade, and never really looked back.  Both players are highly versatile, both able to shoot and find an open passer to some degree.  Williams is the younger, but more advanced defender, and his speed and length might really give Sabonis some fits here.  This matchup is closer than the numbers would suggest, but I still give it to the higher rated Sabonis.

Advantage: Sabonis

Centers:

While the Bucks have lost every matchup to this point, this is certainly one that will sway things in their favor.  Giannis is truly the best Center in the league, and for my money, the best all around player as well.  He can do whatever he wants on the court, and that will be the case here against Thad Young, Boban Marjanovic, or whoever the Nets throw out there.  Thad is too small, and Sabonis and Boban are too slow to do anything against the Freak.  This one should be an ugly matchup for Brooklyn.

Large Advantage: Bucks

Benches:

The benches of these two squads differentiate greatly.  For the Bucks, they have several meaningful contributors coming off the bench, as they have 5 different players that receive more than 15 minutes per game but do not start.  The Nets on the other hand, don’t go to the bench often, with only Caris Levert and Boban Marjanovic receiving more than 10 minutes off the bench per game in the latest playoff series.  The big advantage goes to the Bucks here, as they have players who would start on many teams across the league coming off the pine in Josh Richardson, Jusuf Nurkic, Okongwu and a few others.  Levert is superb and brings a lot to the Brooklyn team during his minutes on the court, but the two groups have a pretty wide gap between them.

Prediction:

This one will go to the wire.  As stated, both stars should go relatively unchecked in these games, so between Giannis and Curry, whoever has the greater impact I believe wins individual games, and the series.  My Prediction will throw some off, but I’ll go with Nets in 6.  I just think the Thibadoian coaching style of GM WizKid will pay off in this one as the starters for Brooklyn see heavy minutes.