The Golden State Warriors have kicked off the season in form not seen since the 2015-16 season, when they led the NBA in wins (73) and covers against the spread (56.7 percent).
The Warriors face the massive task of being without Draymond Green as they take on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s division leading Milwaukee Bucks at Oracle in a nationally televised game on Thursday night in America.
Here we discuss the odds and analysis from a betting perspective.
When: Thursday November 8th, 2018 at 7:30pm PST
Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland, California
TV: TNT, NBC Sports Bay Area, Sky Sports (UK Replayed Next Day)
Injuries: Christian Wood (finger) is questionable, D.J. Wilson (hamstring) is out, Trevon Duval(eye) is out and Jodie Meeks (suspension) is out for the Bucks.
Shaun Livingston (foot) is out, Draymond Green (foot) is out, Jordan Bell (calf) is questionable and DeMarcus Cousins (Achilles) is out for the Warriors.
Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee have just endured a 103-118 loss to the Portland Trailblazers and have now lost two of their last three after a running streak of seven wins at the start of the season.
The Bucks are led by Giannis Antetokounmpo scoring 25.8 points and grabbing 13.3 rebounds per game and Eric Bledsoe with 6.3 assists per game.
Milwaukee is scoring 120.0 points per game (2nd of 30), allowing 107.3 points per game (5th of 30), earning a simple rating system score of 14.48 (1st of 30), pace factor of 104.3 (5th of 30), offensive rating of 115.1 (5th of 30) and defensive rating of 102.9 (2nd of 30) .
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors’ scoring, pace and bench consistency continue to overwhelm teams throughout this eight game winning streak. This makes it hard to feel confident stepping in front of this golden juggernaut, even if one of their stars has an off-night.
Golden State is led by Stephen Curry scoring 31.3 points per game, Kevin Durant with 7.5 rebounds per game and Draymond Green with 7.9 assists per game.
The Warriors are scoring 123.5 points per game (1st of 30), conceding 109.7 points per game (10th of 30), earning a SRS score of 11.90 (2nd of 30), pace factor of 101.5 (11th of 30), offensive rating of 121.6 (1st of 30) and defensive rating of 108.1 (12th of 30).
Analysis
The Milwaukee Bucks have been a tough night out for the Dubs over the past few exchanges, covering four of the last six games between these teams, including winning the last game at Oracle outright.
The absence of Draymond is a gaping void and major loss on defence, which could lead to two of the highest scoring offenses and fastest paced teams in the league to score a huge amount of points.
The Odds
The 8-2 Bucks are the toast of the NBA, but they are 6.5-point underdogs against the Warriors, and a deeper look at the numbers suggests that Golden State should cover. The Warriors are the only team in the league with a better point differential (+13.7 to +12.7) and are a perfect 6-0 at home so in case you want to take advantage of this data and make your own wager, check these places to bet on NBA games as they have been reviewed and proved to be trustworthy. Milwaukee is just 2-2 on the road with wins over the middling Hornets and Wolves to go along with Ls at the Blazers and Celtics. That continues a trend from last season when the Bucks were 19-22 on the road in the regular season and 0-4 in the playoffs. They also give up the most threes in the league (12.7), which is ominous heading into a game with a team that’s shooting an NBA-best 42.3% from behind the arc.