Free Picks: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee will go again on Tuesday night after trading upper cuts and haymakers all afternoon on Sunday in Milwaukee. It will be the third and final meeting of the regular season between the teams, and considering the fact that the Bucks are now just 2.5 games back of the Nets, who are a half game back of the Philadelphia 76ers in first place in the Eastern Conference, it’s a pretty darn important matchup.

We had the Brooklyn Nets to win the first meeting despite them being listed as the slight underdogs, and they come into the rematch in a similar situation, offering +107 NBA odds as the dog on Tuesday night. Milwaukee simply isn’t offering the same kind of value as the favorite in what is essentially a toss up game. 

Sunday afternoon supplied us with one of the best games of the season, with the Bucks outlasting the Nets in a 117-114 thriller. Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant was in his bag, dropping 42 very efficient points, but Giannis Antetokunmpo even better as he put up 49 points while hitting jump shots from all over the court, including a season-high four triples.

For much of the third quarter, the Nets basically dared Giannis to win the game for his team, and he responded by dominating veteran DeAndre Jordan with every level of his offensive game for 18 points in the q. It was honestly a bit embarrassing for Jordan of former Lob City fame. Eventually though, head coach Steve Nash snapped out of it and started putting more small and mobile defenders on him like Blake Griffin and Jeff Green.

That slowed down the freight train that the Greek Freak was in the third quarter heading into the final frame, but the fact that he was hitting his jump shot at such a high clip made it very very difficult to guard him either way. We wouldn’t expect him to do that in two straight games, which is a big reason why we like the Nets as our NBA pick for this one.

Another reason we’re bullish on the Nets as one of our top picks on this Tuesday night NBA slate is how poorly Kyrie Irving shot the rock on Sunday. Uncle Drew went just 8-for-21 from the field and 2-for-8 from deep as Jrue Holiday got into his body and made him uncomfortable while also forcing Irving into four uncharacteristic turnovers on the night. 

Irving has not shot the ball at a percentage of under 40 percent in two straight games since New Year’s Day, so we’re expecting a big bounce back game for the Durantula’s sidekick on Tuesday night at Fiserv. 

They could also use improved performances from Joe Harris and Jeff Green, who combined to go just 4-for-13 on Sunday afternoon. Most importantly, the Nets are coming into this one having lost two straight, and they have not lost three in a row since February 9th, nearly three months ago. 

They’ve had dozens of different lineups over that span, so Nash and his staff have done a nice job of figuring out good matchups night in and night out, and we’d expect them to do the same on Tuesday. We’re going to roll with the Nets again as our top pick on Tuesday night, snagging their moneyline early at tasty +107 odds.

Another wager we like as one of our best bets for today is a player prop on the red hot Durantula. The guy has been on a mission since returning to full health a few games ago, dropping 33, 42, and 42 points in three of his past four outings. He has taken nearly 80 shots in those games, but he’s been scoring super efficiently, draining them at a 56 percent clip in those games.

After Sunday’s defeat, Durant will doubtless realize that he has to play even better if the Nets are going to beat the Bucks with the Greek Freak hitting jimmys. We wouldn’t necessarily expect another 40-piece from Durant, but 30+ points is very much in the realm of what we would consider highly probable. We’re going to go with the over on Durant’s 28.5 points prop at -120 NBA odds as another of our top picks on Tuesday night.

• Brooklyn 14-7 SU after a loss this season
• Brooklyn is 11-9 SU as the underdog this season
• Milwaukee is 4-3 SU when playing a team for the 2nd straight game this season
• Brooklyn has not lost 3 straight since Feb. 9th