Just in case your head has been in the sand since last fall, it's worth reminding that the Milwaukee Bucks were the league's best team during the regular season, and it wasn't particularly close. And despite many assuming the Bucks would come back to earth amid the pressure cooker of the playoffs, they've instead continued cementing themselves as a legitimate title contender, if not outright favorite for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
After blowing out the Toronto Raptors 125-103 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Milwaukee's postseason point differential is up to a staggering +168. According to SportsCenter, that's the third-highest point differential through 11 playoff games in league history, behind those of the 2017 Golden State Warriors and 2001 Los Angeles Lakers – both of whom won the title.
The Bucks have the largest differential in a single postseason through 11 games behind the '17 Warriors and '01 Lakers.
Both teams won the title that year 👀 pic.twitter.com/Ti7tBw2dbb
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 18, 2019
This impressive statistic is just the latest that portrays the Bucks as a real threat to the two-time defending champion Warriors. They also had the league's top net rating during the regular season by a significant margin, and were the only team in basketball to rank top-four in both offensive and defensive rating.
The Bucks still have work to do before dispatching of the Raptors and advancing to the NBA Finals. As Toronto guard Danny Green said after Game 2, Mike Budenholzer's team has simply done what it's supposed to do to this point, holding serve from the friendly confines of Fiserv Forum. Will Milwaukee be able to maintain its esteemed recent level of play at ScotiaBank Arena? We'll find out on Sunday.
Even if that doesn't quite prove the case but the Bucks still ultimately win the East, they're poised to have as good a chance, if not better, at dethroning Golden State as anyone since Kevin Durant joined the Warriors three years ago.
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