The Bucks look to continue their absolute domination of the NBA on Saturday with a visit to reeling Brooklyn. The Bucks have owned the matchup lately, especially at the Barclays Center, where they’ve won seven straight games. Milwaukee opened as road favorites — and seem like a smart play.
- Date/Time: January 18, 6:00 p.m. ET
- Stadium: Barclays Center
- TV Coverage: NBA TV, TSN 1
- Sportsbook Odds: Bucks -6.5 | O/U 231
- Bucks vs Nets Matchup Report
Sportsbook Odds Analysis
Brooklyn has been massively underachieving all season, even with Kyrie Irving back in the lineup. Milwaukee has been the league’s top team all season, so even though they’re on the road, they opened as 6.5-point favorites. The total opened at 231 points, in part to Milwaukee’s top-ranked offense meeting Brooklyn’s weak defense.
Milwaukee News & Notes
Right now the Bucks are in love with being 13-2: they’re 13-2 SU in their last 15 games overall, 13-2 SU in their last 15 road games and 13-2 SU in their last 15 games against Brooklyn, their opponent on Saturday.
The Bucks have also covered the spread in three of their last four games and sitting at 37-6 on the season, they already have a comfortable seven-game lead in the Eastern Conference.
Sporting the league’s top offense, paced by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe, along with a top-10 defense, the Bucks have not only yet to lose back-to-back games… they haven’t lost more than two games in any month this season.
They’ve also got a strong track record playing on Saturdays, as Milwaukee is 8-1 against the spread in its last nine games on a Saturday.
Brooklyn News & Notes
Kyrie Irving has been back for three games now for Brooklyn but his presence has done little to immediately reverse the Nets’ fortunes.
Brooklyn is 1-2 since Irving rejoined the lineup, with two straight losses heading into Saturday’s game. In their last game, a 117-106 loss to Philadelphia, Irving was a team-worst -29 while shooting 6-of-21 from the floor.
It just continues the trend of subpar play for Brooklyn, which is just 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games. One of the biggest culprits in the Nets’ play is their 15.2 turnovers per game, which is the third-most in the league.
They’ll need to clean up their game in time to face the NBA’s top team or else Brooklyn will likely be staring at their eighth straight loss to Milwaukee on their home court.
Betting Pick: BUCKS -9
The Nets are struggling, Kyrie Irving is back to talking to the media too much, and the Bucks are simply dominant right now. I’ll take Milwaukee to cover.
- The Bucks are 5-2 ATS in the last 7 games vs the Nets.
- The Nets are 2-9 SU and ATS in the last 11 games.
- The OVER is 6-3 in the Nets' last 9 games.
