The Brooklyn Nets don’t often get in the cross hairs of the NBA’s media partners. That changed when the club went all in mortgaging the future for a run at immediate gratification. Swinging a deal for disgruntled James Harden gives the Nets a Big Three along with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. But can those players thrive with only one basketball? The Nets will show off their new look against one of the top teams in the league when they host the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.
The contest between the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets takes place at 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday, January 18, 2021, from Barclays Center in Brooklyn and will air live on TNT. BookMaker.eu will have odds for every game on the Monday NBA schedule.
NBA Opening Lines at BookMaker.eu
Milwaukee Bucks (Check Back Later)
Brooklyn Nets (Check Back Later)
Over/Under (Check Back Later)
Odds Analysis
Adding a former MVP and scoring champion will certainly boost the Nets status among oddsmakers. We already saw futures odds change when the trade was announced. Still, there a lot of unknowns surrounding the deal and we probably won’t get a full grasp of how the trade works out for some time. The Nets won two in a row before pulling the trigger on Harden, getting payouts over the Knickerbockers and Nuggets. They have been inconsistent and went stretches without Irving and Durant. They climbed back over .500 with those two wins and are currently 7-6 SU and 6-7 ATS. After a slow start to the season the Bucks have hit their stride. They beat Detroit for the third time in 11 days on Wednesday, their third straight triumph overall and sixth in seven games to move to the top of the East standings. The Bucks are 8-4 SU and 6-6 ATS.
Milwaukee Bucks
While the Nets are searching for success, the Bucks are already experiencing it. Not the kind they eventually want, however, but plenty of wins along the way. The goal is to win a title and the Bucks have a roster that is built to do that. And the club is motivated by postseason flameouts after logging the best record in the league the last two seasons. Now there is another team that stands in their way and though this game takes place early in the season it’s a chance for Milwaukee to make a statement.
Looking like the club that won nearly 75 percent of its games the previous two seasons, the Bucks rebounded after opening the campaign with just two wins in the first five games, including an embarrassing 20-point loss to the Knicks. They won six of their last seven games going 4-3 ATS. The Bucks were one of the best offensive teams the last two seasons and that hasn’t changed. Following their 110-101 win over Detroit, they are the NBA’s highest scoring team while placing among the top three in field goal and three-point percentage.
Needing to get better on the defensive side, the Bucks acquired Jrue Holiday during the offseason. A ferocious wing defender, Holiday is also another capable scorer. Two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo might be overshadowed in this matchup, but he won the award for reason. Giannis collected a triple-double in the Detroit game and leads the Bucks with 26.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets tried this once before with disastrous results. The circumstances are a little different, but the club gave away draft capital for the next few years while chasing a title. And the players they have now are much younger than when they acquired aging veterans Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett from the Celtics. It seemed like a good move at the time, but history showed the Nets got fleeced in that move.
Not only did the Nets trade away top draft picks, they also thinned their roster by saying adios to Caris LaVert, Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince. And with Irving’s status going forward up in the air there may be some bumps along the way. After all, Durant and Harden can’t do it all.
If Steve Nash thought coaching in the NBA was going to be easy, he thought wrong. He’s now tasked with managing three alphas on the court with only one basketball. Harden should be motivated now that he got his wish to get out of Houston. And for all the individual greatness he had with the Rockets he never won a title or even reached the NBA Finals. We’ve seen two superstars collaborate to achieve greatness. Can the Nets do it with three?
NBA Odds Pick
Schoolyard ball doesn’t work in the NBA. Sure it’s fun to watch certain players take over games, but it’s a team sport and all five guys on the floor are needed. The Nets don’t have much depth, though they probably won’t need it during the regular season. It will be interesting to see if Harden can get his game back after using poor play to force his way out of Houston.
NBA Odds Prediction: Bucks 122, Nets 114
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