Bucks Skyrocket Into Top 10 of 2025 NBA Title Favorites

Alex Kirschenbaum | Jan 3, 2025

Dec 17, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34), guard Damian Lillard (0) and center Brook Lopez (11) celebrate after winning the Emirates NBA Cup championship game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Thanks to a solid December turnaround, the Milwaukee Bucks have seen their BetOnline odds for the 2025 title improve to 20/1 from 28/1 two months ago. This number good enough to land Milwaukee in the top 10 among teams, after being stuck on the outside looking in circa November.

It should be noted that these odds were determined prior to the Bucks' instructive defeat to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night. Milwaukee's narrow 113-110 loss to the 13-21 Nets represents a fascinating look at the team's strengths and weaknesses since it gathered itself following a brutal 2-8 season start. The Bucks fell down big, to their biggest deficit of the year in fact, before mounting a ferocious late-game comeback that fell just short of a win in the waning final seconds of regulation.

With perhaps their best, most physical point-of-attack defender, Andre Jackson Jr., ejected late into the game's first half, Milwaukee saw their fortunes fade in a major third quarter Nets blowout.

Read More: Critical Bucks Starter Andre Jackson Jr. Ejected in First Half of Nets Showdown

Brooklyn built out a pronounced lead, at one point pacing the Bucks by as much as 24 points in the frame, before a 10-point Milwaukee rally got things semi-competitive late into the third frame.

The Bucks' 3-point defense and defensive rebounding were both stunningly lackluster during the contest's third quarter. Milwaukee head coach Doc Rivers opted to explore a small-ball lineup featuring two ostensible point guards — Damian Lillard and Ryan Rollins — along with 6-foot-5 shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. and 6-foot-7 forward Taurean Prince, plus Bucks superstar power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo jumping at center. That seemed to spark something in the team, as Antetokounmpo attacked Brooklyn inside.

Degree of difficulty: High.#FearTheDeer #NBA pic.twitter.com/OUW4QnPGzi

— FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin (@FanDuelSN_WI) January 3, 2025

Milwaukee eventually cut the deficit to nine points heading into the contest's fourth quarter, with Antetokounmpo and Rollins having played every second of the third.

7Rivers had to rest his best player to start the fourth frame. Without Antetokounmpo, Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez clearly had issued a mandate to get the ball out of the hands of Milwaukee's other two multi-time All-Stars, Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton, as he frequently double-teamed both players and swarmed the paint at the top of the period. Brooklyn quickly built out another epic lead, 21 points, mostly sans Antetokounmpo, via a 17-5 Nets run.

Antetokounmpo was reinserted midway through the quarter, but by that point the game felt close to over. Feeling experimental, Rivers brought little-used reserve wings MarJon Beauchamp and Pat Connaughton into the game alongside Davis, Lillard, and sixth man big Bobby Portis.

That surprising lineup showed off incredible fight late.

Suddenly, Lillard and Antetokounmpo led the Bucks on an unbelievable 20-0 run to get within a single point, 111-110, with 37.4 seconds remaining in regulation. D'Angelo Russell departed the game with a leg injury.

After a bungled Nets possession, Antetokounmpo missed a contested layup try. His miss compelled him to foul Nets wing Ziaire Williams, who nailed a pair of free throws to put the Nets up by three points, 113-110.

The Bucks were able to inbound after advancing the ball, with Rivers subbing in some 3-point marksmen in the form of Middleton and Trent. Lillard missed a good look at a 27-foot triple try that would have tied the game with four seconds remaining.

Nets forward Cameron Johnson botched a pass, turning the ball over with a second remaining. Lillard couldn't advance far enough for a good look, and had to force up a heave from 35 feet out at the buzzer. He missed, and the Bucks dropped to a 17-15 record on the season.

Antetokounmpo finished the game with a 27-point, 13-rebound double-double, plus seven assists, three blocks and a steal. Lillard had 23 points on a grisly 6-of-20 shooting from the floor. Only two other players, Middleton and Portis, scored in double digits.

The team's big weaknesses remain defending the point of attack and covering more athletic perimeter players. But Milwaukee also proved its resilience in rallying from another massive hole. Unlike the team's 19-point comeback against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, Milwaukee fell just short. The club won't be able to win a title if it's exhausting himself trying to come back from these huge deficits against sub-.500 teams all the time. But as the Bucks have proved twice in three days, they're certainly not lacking for heart.

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