Struggling Hawks Are Next On Giannis’ Chopping Block

The Bucks have won 12 of their last 13 games and they have the league’s highest-scoring offense, the largest scoring margin and MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. They host a Hawks squad Wednesday that’s allowing nearly 130 points per game recently — when it comes to making a play in this game, you know what to do.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The Bucks opened as huge home favorites, getting spotted 15 points because they’re the most dominant team in the East right now, while the Hawks may very well be the conference’s worst squad right now. The total opened very high at 239.5 points, a reflection of Milwaukee’s league-best offense and Atlanta’s inability to stop anyone from scoring.

Atlanta News & Notes

After winning their first two games of the year, the wheels have completely fallen off for the Hawks.

They’ve lost seven straight games, and 10 of their last 11 overall, with the culprit being the NBA’s fourth-worst defense. Atlanta is allowing 118.1 points per game on the season, but over the Hawks’ current seven-game skid they’ve yielded 129.6 points per loss.

It’s led to an NBA-worst -10 point differential per game, despite having one of the league’s most exciting scorers in point guard Trae Young, who averages 26.6 points per game.

Things don’t look good for Wednesday’s game either, as they travel to face a Milwaukee squad that leads the NBA in scoring and point differential.

Milwaukee News & Notes

When Giannis Antetokounmpo won the MVP last season, it was hard to fathom how he could get any better. Unfortunately for the rest of the league, Giannis has upped his game even more — and he’s now a truly unstoppable force.

Following his destruction of the Utah Jazz on Monday, when he scored 50 points with 14 rebounds, six assists and nary a turnover, Antetokounmpo is up to 31.1 points per game (second in the league), 13.9 rebounds (fourth) and 6.4 assists (21st).

He has recorded a double-double in every game this year, the longest such streak to start a season since 1976-77, and perhaps the most scary stat: he’s shooting 30 percent on three-pointers, while attempting a career-high 4.7 per game.

The Greek Freak still has room to improve as a long-range shooter, but the fact that he can make them (and he’s taking them) with some consistency only makes him that much more near impossible to guard.

Betting Pick: Bucks -15

Milwaukee is on fire, Giannis is playing on a different level than everyone else and the Hawks couldn’t stop their own shadow right now. This gets ugly — quickly.