Milwaukee Bucks

Budenholzer, Bucks are NBA's best at bouncing back

Published Dec. 27, 2019 5:29 p.m. ET

The Milwaukee Bucks have lost back-to-back games just one time under head coach Mike Budenholzer.

That’s right. Just once.

It occurred last season during Budenholzer’s debut campaign in Milwaukee when the Bucks lost 115-111 to Utah on March 4 and 114-105 to Phoenix two days later.

The Bucks are 24-1 in games following a loss under Budenholzer. It’s the best record since the beginning of last season under those circumstances in the NBA -- the .960 winning percentage is leagues above second-place Toronto at 23-10 (.697).

Milwaukee will have a chance to move its mark to 25-1 on Friday night against Atlanta (6-25), as the Bucks are coming off an ugly 121-109 loss to Philadelphia on Christmas Day. Milwaukee allowed the 76ers to shoot 47.7% from 3-point range and make a season-high 21 3s. The final score didn’t look as horrific as it could have due to the Bucks outscoring Philadelphia 36-21 in the fourth quarter.

Anyway, the Bucks might have to bounce back without their star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is listed as doubtful for Friday’s clash with back soreness. But based on Milwaukee’s recent success against Budenholzer’s former team, the Bucks should be just fine.

Milwaukee has won nine of its last 10 meetings with the Hawks, averaging 120.1 points per contest.

The Bucks shouldn’t have any problem extending their streak of 56 regular-season games with 100+ points, dating back to Feb. 23, 2018. The 32 consecutive 100+ point games so far in 2019-20 is the NBA’s longest streak to start a season since Denver in 1990-91 (35).

Atlanta has yielded 118.6 points per contest, which ranks 29th in the NBA.

The biggest challenge for Milwaukee will be stopping second-year guard Trae Young, who is averaging 29.0 points per game -- the highest scoring average through Christmas Day of any Hawks player in team history.

Statistics courtesy Sportradar, basketball-reference