Milwaukee Bucks v Houston Rockets
March 27th 2019; Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee
What a treat do we have in store tonight, as two heavyweights from both conferences face against each other. In tonight’s' match, we will see the 1st seed in the East host the 3rd team from the West in what promises to be a great match between two of the strongest teams in the league.
Milwaukee Bucks look strong which is the case for a while now. With a 55-19 record, they are as of now the team with the best overall record and are well on their way to secure the 1st seed in the East. Looking back at their last 5 fixtures, Milwaukee Bucks lost to Philadelphia 76ers (125:130) and Cleveland Cavaliers (107:102), but managed to defeat LA Lakers (115:101), Miami Heat (116:87) and most recently Cleveland Cavaliers in a rematch (127:105). As it stands now, the Bucks are on a 2 game winning streak and hold an impressive 7-3 record in the last 10. Despite their little hiccup against Cleveland Cavaliers on match 21st, Bucks look strong, however, they will need to prove their worth tonight when they welcome the hottest team in the league; Houston Rockets.
Houston Rockets are a completely new team since the 2nd half of the season started and in a good way. As it stands now, Houston are 3rd in the West with an overall record of 47-27, which is good enough, however, it's their record in the last 15 fixtures that is impressive. The Rockets won 13 out of their last 15 fixtures, only losing to Golden State Warriors (104:106) on March 14th and Memphis Grizzlies (126:125)(OT) on March 21st. With most of the team healthy and ready, Houston look more than ready to face off against the leading team from the East who won defeated them in front of their own crowd on January 10th (109:116).
Houston Rockets travel to Milwaukee with Green out and Gordon questionable, other than that their team looks healthy. The home side, on the other hand, has quite a long list of missing players. Snell, Mirotic, Brogdon, DiVincenzo and P. Gasol are all sidelined.
We have talked about Houston Rockets defence before, which has improved drastically. That's especially true when they play against stronger teams, which sadly for Bucks means they will not have an easy time scoring points tonight. What works in Houston favour here the most is their impressive defence at the 3pt line. As it stands now, they are ranked 3rd best defensive team when it comes to preventing opponents from scoring three-pointers. On the other side, Bucks 3pt defence is far from impressive, however, they caused problems to Houston and their 3pt attempts the last time they met. With great players who are more than capable of scoring from inside the 3pt line, we must also mention the defence of the teams inside, which is as well among the best in the league. Houston have excellent rim protection in Tucker who we do believe will be able to slow down the "Greek Freak" who is coming from a 26pt game against Cleveland. On the other side, Milwaukee does not need a special introduction as they are by far the most efficient defensive team in the league. All in all, this match will see two great defensive teams going against each other. While they both possess exceptional scorers, the defensive side will prevail and keep this one under the line.
Prediction: Under 227.00 points