Now that King James has moved out west and is struggling to keep the Los Angeles Lakers afloat, the most talked about teams in the Lebronless Eastern Conference are the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors. However, the team that is receiving the least amount of the spotlight is actually shinning the brightest and that is the Milwaukee Bucks.
Led by the freakishly gifted and dominant potential league MVP in forward/guard Giannis Antetokounmpo, also known as the “Greek Freak”, the Bucks don’t just sit atop the Eastern Conference standings, they possess the best record in the entire league with a 44-14 overall record which is three more wins and two fewer losses than the reigning champion Golden State Warriors.
Milwaukee has a combined record of 5-3 against the other more talked about teams that sit behind them in the conference standings and the Celtics, who are perhaps the most discussed and heavily debated of the aforementioned teams, currently sit in fifth place after losing to the first place Bucks in a down to the wire game that ended in a 98-97 defeat for Boston last night.
The Bucks have been consistently great all season and have dropped just one game over the last month with a 7-1 record in the month of February so far with just three more games until March rolls around. The Bucks are embracing the underdog role despite being the top seed in the East and relish in the fact that they are not being talked about so that come playoff time that they won’t be buying into any potential hype train that might come chugging along as the season winds down.
Even though Houston Rockets’ James Harden and Oklahoma City Thunders’ Russell Westbrook are in the midst of making NBA history with their record-breaking and setting streaks, it can be argued that Antetokounmpo has had the most profound impact on his team’s success this season. He’s averaged a double-double all season long with nearly 30 points a game and just over a dozen rebounds. Only time will tell if he and the Bucks will be able to keep it up and advance deep in the postseason for what recent history suggests will be a Finals match up with the Warriors.
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