Surging Bucks Favoured over Struggling Knicks in the NBA

After finishing at the bottom of the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings last season, with a meagre record of 15-67, the Bucks have been one of the surprise stories of the current NBA campaign.

Milwaukee hits the court on Thursday with a record of 20-19, good for second place in the Central Division, and just six games back off the division-leading Chicago Bulls.
But while the Bucks approach the midway point of the season having already eclipsed last season’s final win total, they have still struggled with consistency at times, posting back-to-back SU wins on just three occasions since the end of November, and going a middling 6-5 ATS in their last 11 outings, including a disappointing 1-4 ATS stretch in their last five home contests.

Milwaukee’s offence is led by point guard Brandon Knight. The 23 year-old, who was taken eighth overall in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons, before being dealt to the Bucks prior to last season, leads the club with 18.2 points per game while playing 32.1 minutes per night.

Rookie Jabari Parker, who was selected second overall by the Bucks in last spring’s NBA Draft, was second in scoring among rookies with 12.3 points per game before suffering a knee injury last month that has ended his first pro season.

Parker’s injury leaves a hole in the Bucks’ lineup and does nothing for the club’s NBA futures betting odds at Coral. Despite their strong first half, Milwaukee remains a distant 80/1 bet to win the Central Division and a 250/1 longshot to win their first NBA Championship since 1971.

It has been a brutal campaign for the Knicks who take the hard court against the Bucks mired in a 15-game SU losing streak. Overall, the Knicks have posted just one win in their last 26 outings, sending them into a freefall to the bottom of the NBA overall standings with a record of 5-35.

The Knicks are also just 4-10-1 ATS during their current losing skid, with 11 of their 15 SU losses coming by at least 10 points. However, New York is a surprising 5-5 ATS this season in games where they are pegged as double-digit underdogs in NBA betting at Coral.