Does Giannis Antetokounmpo have a path this season to a third MVP?

Does Giannis Antetokounmpo have a path this season to a third MVP?

On today’s lockdown bucks we promised it it is here it is time to officially dissect the case for MVP for Yannis DMO what he’s done through the course of this season and how realistic are his chances of continuing to climb in that MVP race we’ll get into that

Conversation and some more updates on Chris Middleton out tonight against the Lakers Eric name did have a chance to sit down with Chris so we’ll recap some of what was said in that conversation and take a look at the rest of this West Coast Road Trip all of that and more

Coming up next on lock on bucks you are locked on bucks your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day to locked on bucks I’m Justin Garcia joined as always by Camille Davis we thank you for making lock on bucks your

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You want to talk to faster post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon NBA that’s linkedin.com locked on NBA to post your job for free terms and conditions apply um Camille I think the the Giannis conversation is going to take up a majority of what we had in

Store for today’s show but um I suppose we’ll start there and I’ve I’ve mentioned this a number of times in that it’s not you know the be all and all but it is a pretty good indicator of where we’re headed in the MVP conversation each year and uh that is the basketball

Reference MVP tracker so for the longest time Giannis was coming in at fourth in that behind obviously nicoa yic Shay gilis Alexander and Luca donic they actually did have a somewhat interesting MVP conversation last night on Inside the NBA but Giannis has since moved past Luca donic not a surprise there when you

Look at the standings and at this point he’s almost neck and neck in their odds with Shay gilis Alexander the the doubter of it is niic right now is the runaway favor to win his third MVP but we’re starting to see jannis slowly but surely continue to make some steps and

Climb that mvp ladder and as we both mentioned with this schedule which Still Remains the third most challenging schedule you have a national game tonight we think against LeBron James in Los Angeles you’ve got a big rematch against the Clippers on Sunday uh you’ve got two games left against the Celtics

You’ve got a game left against the 76ers there’s going to be no Joel on beid but you do also have two games left against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Shay gilgas Alexander that right there to me seems like if Giannis is going to win the MVP and and we had this conversation last

Year too those games that’s how he’s going to do it is is if the Bucks can finish when they had what 28 games I think it was left coming out of the All-Star break I talked about this with Eric name as well if you could go like

20 and eight that’s a start because team success is a factor but especially if he has big performances tonight against LeBron and those those matchups especially against the Celtics even though one of them Boston’s gonna have nothing to play for we would assume with that final matchup um but if Giannis

Puts up big individual performances in those games that seems like that is his best way uh to win the MVP so all of that being said I ask you you this do you think Giannis can win the MVP this season can he yes he can uh is it likely

At this yeah like is it is it likely I’m not sure nicoa joic um is the front runner even during last night’s broadcast of the game with the nuggets and the Celtics it was a conversation about the MVP race and as joic was putting the razzled Dazzle on in the

Final touches on that Victory you were just hearing the announcers again say like the best basketball player in the world like he is playing the best basketball in the world right now he’s clearly the MVP favorite so on and so forth and of course they were like and

Tatum’s in the conversation but it’s really like a Twan race between joic and Shay gild’s Alexander at this point and they mention like Yannis is in the conversation tatums in the conversation but uh those two players have dominated a lot of the conversation so far throughout this season but like we

Mentioned at the allstar break given the schedule at the Bucks half like it’s a chance for Giannis to push that because when you look at his numbers like Giannis is averaging over 30 bit over 30 points a game which is both more than he had in both his MVP Seasons he’s getting

Like 11 rebounds a game career high and assist career highs in field goal percentage effective field goal percentage he’s in the top three in a lot of advanced metrics I think he’s like fourth in in player efficiency rating like he’s up there like he’s doing all the things that you would say

Hey this is what makes a player most valuable to their team it’s just with the Bucks this season I think part of why we haven’t heard his name said more is because of all of the narrative pieces around the Bucks as well with Adrien Griffin and the perspective that

Hey perception like hey jannis that was giannis’s guy and now his coach is fired and now it’s a new coach coming in and for some reason it seems like he’s getting knocked for that uh and of course when you made the coaching switch the Bucks lost a few games in a row

There there was talk about that but coming out of the break six and one now um I think they have about like 19 games left 209 games left on the schedule and more than half of those are going to be on national TV so as voters and people

Are really starting to hone in on who they’re going to vote for who should be the most deserving candidate so on and so forth if the Bucks take care of business if they play well against this tough slate of competition on these nationally scheduled games as well it

Should help his case like if I had a couple dollars just to throw at the odds because the odds for Giannis to win are so large right now it’s like Mike not win it but if I do like it’s going to be a big come up and I could see why one

Might do that so you mentioned some of the advanced numbers um right now Giannis has a 632 effective field goal percentage which would be the highest of his career and that’s the the tricky part with effective field goal percentage is um when you look at the

Leaders it’s tough to to Really G like it’s easier to point to hey this was the highest scoring average that we had seen in NBA history but effective field goal percentage is different just because if you’re a big and most of your shots are going to be on lobs and around the rim

You’re G to be very efficient and you’re GNA have a high effective field goal percentage and you’re GNA meet the games played to qualify for it as well so right now I believe it’s like the 50th highest in NBA history which in itself is an accomplishment when you think

About the amount of times Giannis is touching the ball where he’s shooting from he’s not just runand dunk guy um I mean the other ones that stand out Duncan Robinson the year that he really broke out had a huge effective field goal percentage Nico AIC did last year

As well when he was at 66% um but other than that you know it it’s basically Giannis that that you would look at and say man this is incredible Grayson Allen our old friend is up there this season as well and what’s been an incredible season for him

So there’s a handful that you would look at where you would say it’s not just bigs that are around the basket and getting it that way but the fact that Giannis is there with what he’s doing with everything else that he’s taken on this season you know in in some ways I

Know it’s not a like for like and it’s not the perfect comp but in some ways it does remind me of what was it LeBron’s second season in Miami where it was just like he had the mindset of I’m only taking efficient shots I’m gonna boost my shooting percentage and my effective

Field goal percentage and I’m only making the smart plays here I’m not hunting as many threes I’m working in the post that’s basically what we’ve seen from Giannis now we did see more three-pointers against the Warriors and all those came in the first quarter and

I I kind of joked about it with somebody else during a break two of and I don’t know about seeing the the video clip of Giannis knocking down what 11 straight threes and not missing in practice like that’s all well and good but maybe let’s just stick to the bread and butter um

But that’s what jumps off the page the most to me is how much he’s touching the ball how much he’s responsible for this offense especially as Damen Lillard continues to figure things out and by the way as we touched on get better while he’s doing it he’s been very

Effective coming out of the All-Star Break um the fact that Giannis has maintained this efficiency it’s not even maintained increased his efficiency with everything that’s being asked of him and the toughest part too is there’s no way to really calculate this next part what he’s taken on defensively because it’s a

Much different approach you’ve gone through different defensive models this season but with no Drew holiday we all kind of anticipated this to be the case knowing Giannis is going to have to take on more and we’re going to need more from Giannis on the perimeter especially I think he’s grown as a perimeter

Defender I’ve talked about this with a few other people as much as as Giannis is skilled as a defensive player he’s incredible as a help Defender I think there have been some areas for improvement on the permitter and I think we’ve seen a lot of that this season so

All things considered all all the changes that this team has gone through how he’s increased things defensively uh as well for him to be posting these numbers of efficiency to me it it right there is the case of look it’s been a year of change for the bucks the

Constant has been Giannis and that constant has improved from start to finish and he should get credit for being that constant like there was talk ahead of the Season like well I don’t know if he can be MVP if you have Damen Lillard on your team like now you have

Another Superstar on your team and sometimes the battling Superstar narrative is like well are you really most valuable because look at who your number two is or who your One A your one B is to you know on your team so like sometimes you get knocked for that but

Giannis’s numbers are actually like better no one in league history has ever averaged over 30 points 11 rebounds six assists while shooting at least 60% from the field and jannis is on Pace to be the first player in NBA history to do that now all statistics and like

Whatever stat line you want to go with is all arbitrary like you can pick whatever and say like no one has done this and it’s like okay well that’s yeah okay sure but it’s impressive to see what he’s been able to do while adjusting to having a superstar point

Guard next to him who’s also trying to get comfortable along the way as well and you mentioned the defense coming into the season I know jannis made a point like I’m coming like I’m ready for it and Griff was saying like Hey we’re gonna let you be out here getting some

Tougher defensive assignments seeing what you can do and earlier Giannis like when he was younger perimeter defense I felt like sometimes he has like that uh how do I say this the nasis energy when he’s playing defense on the perimeter where it’s just it’s kind of aggressive

It’s a lot of moving it’s very aggressive you can follow a lot and he’s cut down on that this season when he is a perimeter Defender now Doc moving him back into his sweet spot of being that help defender of course he’s one of the best in the league so why wouldn’t you

Take advantage of that but being able to see him switch on a different matchups and just what he’s able to do in that one-on-one has been impressive like was it the Chicago game was it Kobe white trying to ISO up Giannis and it’s like give me those cookies I’m out the other

Way like it’s it’s stuff like that where you’re like he’s a seven-footer playing perimeter defense on a guard and taking the guards cookies like Giannis has been playing great defensively I believe he was my preseason Defensive Player of the Year pick which I don’t think it’s going

That way anymore but uh when you add on the defensive side of what he does in addition to the offensive low that he carries for this team like just a complete complete package of a player um and definitely should be getting the consideration for VP I mentioned um some

Of the betting nods and that usually is the best indicator so we will continue this conversation coming up after the break uh because there’s some other numbers to distill as as well and and a couple of gripes that I have with all the numbers that that we throw out there

So we’ll we’ll continue on this MVP uh campaign for Giannis wrap up that conversation coming up after the break here on locked on bucks our partners at eBay motors have teamed up with locked on Fantasy Basketball host Josh Lloyd to bring you some of the best fantasy picks each week

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Lockon plus all the national shows we do cover in every single League find locked on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app those Betty nods um the last I saw latest I saw Nicole yic Still the favorite um minus 140 Shay gilis Alexander is plus 220 he

Has the second best up Luca donic is third at plus 450 so in other words you bet $100 you win $450 for Shay gilas Alexander about twice the odds of Luca donic and then niik yic even better odds than the three of them that’s what stood out to me the

Most though is Luca donic at least in the betting Market is still in front of Giannis and look I I know there’s a lot that goes into it and and this was the conversation I mentioned out inside the NBA last night was how much does team success and standings have to do with

This conversation right now the Bucks have the second best record in the Eastern Conference and um playoff status which we’ve referenced quite a bit on this pod as well has the bucks with basically a 5050 chance of second or third they have a 43% chance of the two

Seed 36% chance to get the three seat and then it drops off dramatically so in other words they feel pretty strongly the Bucs are going to be one of of those two seeds the Cavs have a 46% chance at the two seeds so slightly higher than

The Bucks and a 31% chance at the three seed just below them so the Bucks are likely to finish second or third in their conference the Dallas Mavericks right now are in the playin tournament and I get the Western Conference is a different story than the East but to me

Camille we’ve talked about this before Russell Westbrook did it as what I think a six seed when the Thunder yeah and he won the MVP in a triple double season I just think that was such an anomaly and it was Russell Westbrook doing that for the first time since we saw Oscar

Robertson do it there was a lot more that went into it as well where that was the year after Kevin Durant had bolted too that felt like more of a narrative reward type of MVP I just don’t see anybody that is below even fourth you could somewhat make a case for but it

Seems like third is the cut off line if if you’re that valuable your team better be in the top three in their conference yeah absolutely and LCA has been playing some outstanding basketball like the numbers that he’s putting up like it’s we’re at a time in the NBA right now

Where there’s just a lot of talent around the league so whenever I normally engage in MVP conversations I always say like if I’m saying that I think it’s so and so this is not me saying that everyone else is trash like that that is not what the conversation is it’s just me saying

Amongst all this greatness here here’s who I think is actually doing the best amongst the greats and with that like again I give a lot of credit to Luca and the numbers that he’s been putting up this season it has been outstanding watching him play I love watching Luca

Play I believe he’s also in Pace to try to set some NBA history with his stat line that he’s averaging I think like the first to average 39 and eight or something like that uh but it’s the record piece of it for me the old thing used to be

Best player best team MVP but that has not been the case that’s changed and I think the Russell Westbrook conversation around that helped change the focus a little bit not saying that many six seeds are going to have an MVP on their team um but it kind of changed the

Dynamics of it and I feel like narrative also does play a part in the MVP race at this point like it’s you have to have the numbers for sure but is there also a compelling story around that kind of help nudge you above everyone else putting up numbers as well and that’s

The piece of it for right now the Bucks where I feel like jiannis doesn’t have that but if they can make this run and finish the season really strong with him continuing to play at a high level that that swings back in his favor and I’m

Not sure if he can pass jokic at this point even if they has a strong finish but I think like number at least finishing second like that should be in play for Giannis I mean anything can happen I’m not wishing ill on anybody but there’s a way for Giannis to catch

Joic at some point um we don’t know what happens going forward but need a narrative piece you need the numbers and you have to have a team playing well and if the Bucks have come out the break looking good the defense has been the piece of it before because the questions

Around the team before were like hey if you have your your Brook Lopez and your Giannis why is this defense so bad why is it so bad and here they are now jannis is still putting up his numbers offensively and the defense for the team has come around you’re seeing the

Highlight plays of Giannis making great defensive plays as well so it’s all in there and it’s just around like how much more can he do uh to to help bolster his case while also seeing what the nuggets are doing like joic has to have a drop

In his play some way somehow some shape some form I think for Giannis to catch him at this point and it’s again I love Giannis I would love for him to be MVP uh but this season I’m not sure how likely it’s going to be for him to be

Able to catch yit with the way that he’s been playing um in in Denver but hey if anything I’d rather have a finals in MVP if we can get that for Giannis well it’s it’s hard to believe it if he does not win it this year he’s going to be four

Years removed from his last MVP and you know he’s still very much in his prime and and as we’ve said you know early in his career the big talking point with Giannis and not that this has gone away but the drive and the work ethic but especially the man every single

Statistic improved year over year over year up until what the MVP season I think it was um and he’s continuing to get better Luca donic to your main point of look this isn’t to Discount any of the cases because it really shines a light on just

How much talent there is in the league when you think back to Old MVP discussions that it was pretty much one or two guys you could really make the case for in years past when it was you know last year Giannis should have been included even more and that’s

Unfortunately becoming the trend of wait a minute why aren’t we mentioning him and why don’t we put in his name with these other two but it was either joic or Joel embiid The Years where it was either Giannis or James uh Harden the Westbrook Year too it it’s been like

This for a while now and so this year to have guys at least four of them that you could make a very legitimate case for to say look they should be the MVP speaks to how much talent there is in the league you mentioned too the the Giannis

Statistics and look one of my gripes with uh the trade machine whatever variation of it you use whatever site you go to is I mean yeah it’s great it’s not a video game that it I understand these salaries would work but why would these teams do

It and then you just see all of these things gain traction of well they could make this move like sure but answer this why would one of those two teams make that trade so as much as I love playing with it it’s one of the worst things that’s happened to basketball discourse

Stae head in basketball reference in their stat site is pretty similar too where we can cherry pick XYZ and the numbers too when we’re getting into non-rounded numbers of oh man 30 13 and six like nobody’s ever done that before like okay great but now it feels like we’re cherry-picking and and finding

Numbers to lay out this case I’ll distill it even further though Giannis would be the only player in NBA history to score 30 points a game and shoot better than 60% from the field like I understand this is the offensive era of the league but that in itself is still

Remarkable and that needs to be one of the larger things in that MVP case fannis Luca we mentioned what five straight 30o triple double Games first player since Russell Westbrook to do that niik yic nightly that he’s done it Shay gilis Alexander to me I still don’t think Giannis is going

To move past him I know we mentioned they’re basically neck and neck in that basketball reference sense but in the betting nods it’s still not there um for Shay the the case is consistency that he has basically been this is the remarkable part a guaranteed 30 points a

Night when you look up and down every time when when you see the Thunder play you look at the Box scor we’ll see it twice Shay Gil just Alexander scores 30 points essentially right at his season average I think he has 40 30-point games this season out of 61 games played he’s

Been remarkable I think he’s been ahead of schedule and the bigger part for them is you know if the Thunder win if the Thunder have the number one record in the Western Conference boy that’s gonna be hard to keep him out of there as great as nicoa

Yic has been the D the Denver Nuggets have a chance to finish with the top record in the Western Conference as well and that that’s the one thing that’s going to go against Giannis is yeah but they couldn’t catch the Boston Celtics and the other Narrative of look there’s

Two very lazy narratives that are going to be out there and are ultimately going to be anchors on Giannis that is he got his coach fired is what’s gonna be put out there and well you got Damen Lillard so you guys should be the one seed you

Should be much better than this and look as as we’ve talked about and documented all throughout the season it’s not that easy it’s not NBA 2K where you just plug and play and you have seen the signs of I feel good about where this is going in

The playoffs that’s not stuff that helps you in an MVP campaign yeah absolutely and the thing with with Shay is well is that I thought the Thunder would be improved this season like you saw it last year coming on I did not see them being this improved this season outside

Of Oklahoma nobody saw this right like we thought maybe they can be a top four seed very similar to not to cut you off when Bud took over and that was the same conversation Bucks fans were having of home court advantage if we can be a top

Four seed and win a first round series and then all of a sudden you’re the one seat that adds to the case I think and for the I just want to end here with this part about Giannis the shooting 60% from the field while scoring at least 30

Points we mentioned like well yeah he’s a big that happens but to be the first person in NBA history with that stat that means Shaq didn’t do it that means Wilt didn’t do it that means throwing any dominant big man that you want to to highlight and say like well in their

Area you know they were always around the basket too they’ve never done it with this level of efficiency that Giannis is doing and he’s doing that as we’ mentioned while he’s adjusting to playing somewhat of a little bit of a different role not having the ball in

His hands as often as he’s been used to here in Milwaukee while sharing that with Damen Lillard while undergoing various system changes of how they’re playing basketball this season he has been consistent throughout the entire season and now at this point while the team is really starting to come together

And again tonight’s game against the Lakers is it going to be another chance to Showcase that MVP case for him I hope the Achilles is feeling good for him but it’s impressive like that is something that’s never been done like we said all stats are arbitrary you can pick a line

And say this is the first time this has been done but to put in the context of like 60% 30 points again round numbers always feel like are like easier to be like yeah we can we can make this our our arbitrary line here but to do something that even the most dominant

Big men have never done in the game before knowing how many we’ve had like that’s super impressive it it’s incredibly impressive and look the opportunity is for the bucks to have a very good record in these final what 19 18 games that they have left to finish strong there and to

Win those matchups if you sweep the Thunder and if Giannis looks incredible in those games uh starting tonight against the Lakers if if Giannis goes out on national TV we think he’s going to play as listed as probable and has big games that’s the best opportunity

For Giannis if you can pull ahead and finish second in the East and the Optics of how you do it that’s going to lay out the best case for him I mentioned the injury report update for Giannis uh there is no update for Chris Middleton so we’ll wrap up the show with some

Thoughts on that and the interview that Chris Middleton just did with Eric name of the athletic we’ll get into the particulars of that conversation next on locked on bucks well we mentioned Today’s Show is sponsored by LinkedIn and look LinkedIn is not just another job board when you’re hiring for your small business

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Buckes the injury report once again has him listed as uh out um I think at this point you have to assume any return for Chris Middleton probably isn’t going to come until the Bucks are off the road now I hope to be proven wrong but you

Got a day game on Sunday I know there’s a day of rest in between then and then more travel somewhat to Sacramento before coming home I think if if we’re going to start to put targets out there for when we could see him probably would start with the 14th when you return home

To take on the 76ers then get two days off and then you have the Phoenix Suns at home once again so it’s starting to feel like we’re not going to see him on this road trip which again is as we’ve discussed I don’t care when we see Chris

Middleton I’d like to see him for a little bit of action before the postseason but as long as he feels 100% good to go and you have him for the postseason that’s all that matters and that’s what he kind of got into as well in that interview that we discussed that

He just did with Eric n on the athletic absolutely and we also mentioned the fact that different sprains all sprains are not the same like there’s different degrees of sprains and we just guessed based on how he played and how he didn’t come back and how long that has been

That it was a very severe sprained ankle and in the interview with Eric he mentioned the fact like I’ve never had an ankle sprained this bad before and after it happened I tried to play run it off a little bit see if it was going to

Loosen up did not happen so I went to the back tried to get raped up and as soon as the shoe came off like my ankle just swelled all the way up and that’s the piece of it right now that Chris is trying to wait to get back from it’s the

Last little bit of swelling on that ankle that he has and he’s like it’s just taking time like it it’s frustrating it can be frustrating for sure but like I just have to wait for the swelling to get out like it was a lot initially most of it’s gone just

Waiting to get this last little bit out so I can play painfree so again doc has mentioned already this was a playoff game Chris could have probably played and Chris himself said I’m close like I might be able to come back during this road trip but like I know I’m very very

Close to returning and that’s just how it is with ankles and the fact that the Bucks are saying like we wanted to be 100% painfree not okay you’re 80 you can deal with the pain levels that you currently have and play through because we need you on the court like it’s like

No take your time get 100% And then we’re going to bring you back slowly and the bringing him back slowly he was mentioning as well and doc said the same thing like it’s not so much because of the ankle to bring him back slowly but getting his lungs back getting

Conditioning back um just to be able to be ready to play the high minutes low that’s going to be required of him in the playoffs so I’m holding out hope that you know it’s a soon it’s a quick return from him now at this point it’s

Been over a month since he sprained his ankle um which apparently was a very very bad sprain I enjoy hearing the fact that you know he’s been around the team I love that he also said like I’m here cuz I want to cheer my guys on and it’s

Like what can you learn from you know being on the bench and it’s like yeah I mean I can learn but like I want to play So for anybody who thinks like he’s injured and he’s just collecting a check and it’s like I’m not trying to get back

Out there like no he wants to play ball the bugs are just being very cautious with him because they understand as well as me and you do like how important he is to this team and when Chris Middleton is healthy as your third option with Giannis and Dame out there it just does

So much for the off offense with them out there but as well as being able to Anchor some of these bench units that we’ve been seeing out here when Dame and oranais need to get AR rest as well yeah and that’s the big thing that we’ve

Discussed before too is um this a lot different if if if you didn’t make the Damen Lillard trade because look it’s it’s not to to diminish what Drew holiday brought your defense would probably be in a much better spot and wouldn’t have been down to 22s at at

Some point during the season but what you’re asking of Chris Middleton is much more if if you don’t make that trade and to me that’s the big thing that that was always important to keep in mind is how much time it would buy you with Chris Middleton and how you could utilize him

So I do think that’s very favorable for this team as they get set to move into the postseason and allows them to take their time where it’s not just man we we better hold teams to 110 or so because it’s it’s and look they’ve been consistently doing that but we’re going

To have to win with our defense because it’s Giannis and it’s Drew holiday we know he’s a capable scorer but he can be streaky and there are ways to slow down that offense so so what Damen Lillard has brought and and the biggest part of

It too is when we point to the numbers of Giannis a lot of that is Damen Lillard when you think about the spacing that he’s created and to a lesser extent Malik Beasley too with what he had done shooting the basketball so far this season that we do have to take those

Things into account too maybe giannis’s numbers aren’t quite as good if you don’t have Damen Lillard on the floor and it also allows you to take your time with h Chris Middleton so TBD on when we see him back and I I will say this as we

Wrap up here it does seem as though the frustration has started to dissipate with Bucks fans so you haven’t heard quite as much of he’s injury prone or when’s he going to get back on the floor that it does seem like there is more of an understanding of as long as he’s

Healthy fine we need him for the playoffs as long as we have a healthy Chris Middleton in the playoffs fine this team’s going to continue to get better and learn how to play with each other you’d like Chris Middleton in the mix for that but we get that it’s a big

Picture thing and it’s not just we got to get Chris Middleton back on the floor so that’s the encouraging part that we’ve shifted further away from that conversation of can’t relying Chris Middleton and all the knocks that you would hear from some circles that that has slowly started to get more and and

More quiet um we got two games three games I beg your pardon to recap but two over the weekend the Bucks in Los Angeles tonight against the Lakers and then Sunday afternoon against the Clippers so we’ll recap those games the next time you hear from us and uh you

Know depending on where things go in these next couple of days on one of the shows next week Camille we’re probably going to have to take a look at the bottom portion of the Eastern Conference standings because I have long mentioned it’s imperative for the bucks and you’ve

Brought it up too to finish second or third in the Eastern Conference because of what that would mean well slowly but surely things are starting to change drastically for those teams that would be on the one side of the bracket the one versus four and and so on um I don’t

Want to jig anything but with those injuries Philadelphia is dealing with and by the numbers and the odds that we we pointed to there is a decent chance at this point that the Philadelphia 76ers could drop down to ninth in the Eastern Conference by the Numbers it is

Very much in play and what that would mean is they could only play the one seed they would have to win two games to get that eight seed they would not be in that seven matchup and if you’re the Bucks and you know there’s a possibility

That you’re gonna be the two seed if you could pick all right here’s the seven and eight teams that we can avoid or or that we would play I beg your pardon if you got the Pacers versus bulls that seems like that would be the ideal seven eight match up for where

Things are headed and that is definitely in play at this point so once we get some more games under our Bel we’ll take a look at the standings as well as we start to get into the stretch Drive of this NBA season moving into the playoffs more late night basketball

Tonight no postgame pod though uh since it’s it’s a Friday so we don’t have to worry about staying up until 2 in the morning to uh to recap this one though if you are looking for it you can find me on WTMJ with the postgame show there

For Camille I am Justin we’ll talk to you once again Monday morning with some more locked on bucks

The Bucks continue their push towards a top 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and Giannis Antetokounmpo is posting unprecedented individual numbers, so why isn’t he getting more serious MVP buzz? How serious of a chance does Giannis have at winning a third MVP and what needs to happen in order for him to grab that honor? Justin and Camille discuss the MVP landscape and take a look at Khris Middleton’s conversation with Eric Nehm of The Athletic on the latest Locked on Bucks

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