MILWAUKEE — Come Sunday it is going to be precisely one yr because the Milwaukee Bucks employed Doc Rivers to be the group’s 18th head coach. The previous 12 months, break up over two seasons, have typically been underwhelming, and at occasions chaotic, however the mere presence of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard retains hope of a critical playoff run alive.

Sturdy performances in current weeks have actually helped on the positivity entrance. The Bucks have received 5 video games in a row and 7 of their final eight, together with what Rivers referred to as a “actually skilled” victory over the Miami Warmth on Thursday after a journey debacle in New Orleans that left them speeding to the sector simply hours earlier than tipoff. 

The matchup with the Warmth, their outdated postseason nemesis, was Sport 42, tipping them over the midway level of the season, and pushing their report to 25-17.

“We [asses the team] in stretches, not essentially mid-point,” Rivers stated. “There’s occasions the place you want — I do not know, it is like your closet, man, there are occasions it is getting messy and you’ll want to clear issues up. There’s occasions the place you are enjoying effectively and you’ll want to shore issues up. It is not like 40 video games. For me, it is at all times been extra really feel. You realize when it is time to assess your group.”

The Bucks have been sizzling these days, however are about to embark on a West Coast street journey that may see them play 4 video games in seven days. They’re going to then return dwelling to host the red-hot Memphis Grizzlies earlier than heading again out on the street for an additional journey that features a showdown with the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder. 

Forward of what figures to be a telling stretch, this looks like an ideal time to evaluate the Bucks with a midseason report.   

Significantly better since gradual begin…

Rivers and the Bucks typically obtained a cross on how final season ended as a consequence of an array of accidents, together with a calf pressure that saved Antetokounmpo out of the playoffs. There was an expectation, nevertheless, that after a full offseason for Rivers to take management of the group and Antetokounmpo and Lillard to get extra accustomed to one another, that the Bucks would hit the bottom operating. 

Not so. They began the season 2-8 and had the third-worst report within the league by means of the primary 10 video games. Issues had been wanting so bleak that there was dialogue, together with right here at CBS Sports activities, about the potential of buying and selling Antetokounmpo. That was seemingly by no means going to occur, however the truth that it was even a dialog was disappointing for Milwaukee.

Internally, at the very least on the enjoying aspect, nobody panicked. There was at all times confidence that they might proper the ship, and that is precisely what has occurred. Since Nov. 10, once they fell to 2-8, they’re 23-9, which is the third-best report within the league in that span, and boast a plus-5.6 web score. 

“Actually?” Antetokounmpo stated when informed about that stat. “I am going to take it. I am comfortable. We’re enjoying nice group ball, we’re competing defensively, we’re enjoying in a very good tempo. There’s gonna be occasions, perhaps one or two occasions we wasn’t ourselves the final couple of weeks however general we have been competing each sport and getting higher.”

All informed, the Bucks are fourth within the Jap Convention, and the regular-season report would not even embrace a dominant win over the Thunder within the NBA Cup championship sport — their greatest efficiency of the season. Antetokounmpo and Lillard are extra comfy collectively, they’re second within the league in 3-point taking pictures (39%) and have quietly grown right into a top-10 protection. 

“I believe the best way we have been enjoying, we’re trending within the route we need to be in, particularly at this level within the season. That is all you’ll be able to actually management,” Lillard stated. “You need to construct good habits, you need to be stacking and constructing on the fitting issues, and proper now, apart from the New York sport… we have been placing the kind of efforts collectively that we have to, and we have been doing it the best way we have to to have success towards anyone.”

…however quite a bit left to show

In addition to the Bucks have been enjoying these days, they nonetheless aren’t considered a real title contender. Over the second half of the season they’ve quite a bit left to show. Not solely to the surface world, however themselves. 

“Guys are enjoying nice and making pictures, enjoying the fitting method, making the additional cross, serving to each other defensively,” Antetokounmpo stated. “So I am comfortable the place we’re proper now. However we gotta carry on enhancing. Gotta carry on enhancing each single day. However we have been enjoying good. But it surely’s not sufficient.”

The “New York sport” Lillard talked about was the Bucks’ 34-point defeat to the Knicks on Jan. 12. With that loss, they fell to 0-8 towards the top-three groups within the East: the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and Knicks. These video games have not all been routs, however you’d have preferred to see the Bucks discover a strategy to win at the very least one among them. “We have gotta get our stuff collectively, easy as that,” Antetokounmpo stated in Madison Sq. Backyard that afternoon. 

Moreover, the Bucks have performed 24 video games at dwelling in comparison with 18 on the street, and have the sixth-hardest remaining schedule. Save for his or her destruction of the Thunder to win the NBA Cup, there have not been many standout wins throughout their turnaround. Can they proceed enjoying like this when the street will get a bit harder?

“Being on the midway level of the season we felt and are beginning to perceive what makes us the perfect model of ourselves,” Lillard stated. “Now it is only a matter of us holding on to that and carrying it out by means of the remainder of the season no matter opponent, no matter if it is dwelling or on the street, we’re beginning to really feel what it is like after we do what we’re imagined to do.”

Middleton a piece in progress

One cause for the Bucks’ gradual begin was the absence of Khris Middleton, who underwent surgical procedure on each of his ankles in the course of the summer time. Regardless of the group’s insistence that he could be prepared for the beginning of the season, and that he had suffered no setback all through the method, Middleton remained sidelined till Dec. 6. 

Lacking a participant of Middleton’s caliber was particularly tough for a top-heavy group just like the Bucks that was additionally making an attempt to introduce numerous new position gamers early within the season. His taking pictures, playmaking and institutional data had been all sorely missed, and the group was thrilled to see him again on the courtroom. 

“He is an enormous organizer,” Bobby Portis stated shortly after Middleton’s season debut. “He is an enormous chief. He has a big-time voice that everybody respects. So if you play on the courtroom with him, you’ll be able to’t assist however to be organized.”

However whereas Middleton has put up strong numbers — 12.6 factors, 3.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists on 48.0/37.7/83.3 taking pictures splits — his return stays a piece in progress. 

The Bucks went 3-4 with him as a starter, together with losses to the tanking Brooklyn Nets (twice) and Portland Path Blazers, and he was quickly relegated to a bench position. That call was made at the very least partly as a result of his ankles stay an ongoing supply of concern. He is performed each components of a back-to-back simply as soon as, and greater than 25 minutes simply 4 occasions in 18 video games. 

“I believe we’re desirous about this fashion an excessive amount of, I am simply being sincere,” Rivers stated in mid-January of his resolution to take away Middleton from the beginning lineup. “The underside line is he is simply not shifting each evening the best way you want him to. One evening, you see he is shifting nice, one evening he isn’t. His minutes go up and down with the best way we need to do that medically, and it is only a robust go for him.”

That is high quality for the common season, when it is comparatively simple to handle a veteran’s workload and the opponents aren’t as tough. However what occurs come playoff time? Is Middleton going to be prepared by then to play 30-35 minutes each different evening for weeks on finish? If not, it’ll be awfully tough for the Bucks to make a deep playoff run. 

Such considerations are why the Bucks have been talked about in commerce rumors involving the likes of Jimmy Butler, Bradley Beal and Zach LaVine in current days and weeks. Buying and selling Middleton could be a troublesome bridge to cross given how a lot he means to the franchise, but it surely’s one thing the entrance workplace has to at the very least think about given the circumstances.