The Milwaukee Bucks won their first playoff series since 2001 after dispatching the Detroit Pistons in four easy games. This wasn't any ordinary sweep, however. They also did this in historically dominating fashion.
Per NBA on ESPN, the Bucks had a plus-95 point differential over the Pistons in this series, tying the 1986 Los Angeles Lakers for the second-highest differential in a sweep in NBA playoff history:
The Bucks tied the 1986 Lakers for second-highest point differential in a series sweep in NBA postseason history (+95) 😮 pic.twitter.com/bHIAZHZtiB
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 23, 2019
The Bucks also won each game of the series by 15 or more points. With this, they became just the second team to win each game in a series sweep by 15 points or more:
The Milwaukee Bucks are just the second team in NBA postseason history to win each game of a four-game sweep by 15 or more points. The Boston Celtics were the first to do so in 1980 versus the Houston Rockets.
— Justin Kubatko (@jkubatko) April 23, 2019
The league-leading Milwaukee Bucks opened their 2019 playoff campaign with a bang. They crushed the Blake Griffin-less Pistons by 35 points, 121-86, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo's 24-point, 17-rebound effort in just 23 minutes.
They followed up their dominating opening game with a 21-point win in Game 2, as The Greek Freak, Eric Bledsoe, and Khris Middleton combined for 77 of Milwaukee's 120 points on the night.
The Bucks then used a more balanced attack with Giannis saddled by foul trouble to cruise to a 119-103 Game 3 victory, the lowest margin of victory in the series.
Game 4 proved to be the most competitive game of the East's one-versus-eight matchup, despite the final score being 127-104. Detroit led by as many as 12 points early in the first quarter and had a 62-56 lead at the half. This, however, wasn't enough to prevent another blowout at the hands of the top-seeded Bucks.
The Pistons went from being up four points, 79-75, at the 5:13 mark in the third, to down 28 points, 120-92, with 4:26 remaining in the fourth — a 45-13 run in a span of 12-plus minutes.
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