It’ll take some kind of miracle for the Milwaukee Bucks to match the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors regular-season wins record.
The Bucks have the best record at 50-8 — five games ahead of LeBron James’ LA Lakers — but would have to go 23-1 to even match the Warriors’ 73 wins.
But, consider this, Milwaukee just blew out the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. Then the Bucks overcame a 55-point effort by Bradley Beal to beat Washington in overtime on the road Monday.
After that, they hopped on a plane to Canada and beat the second-best team in the East — the team that eliminated them from the Eastern Conference Finals, and it wasn’t close — on the second night of a road back-to-back.
That just doesn’t happen in the NBA.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 19 points, 19 rebounds and 8 assists in the 108-97 win over the Raptors on Tuesday. The Bucks are now eight games up on Toronto the East. The 25-year-old reigning MVP shot just 5 of 14, but that was the trend. The Bucks shot 38 percent. Toronto was at just 35 percent.
Milwaukee has now won 9 of 10. Next up, Oklahoma City on Friday at the Fiserv Forum.
All the 73-win talk could be squashed with any one loss. But if the Bucks manage to keep things going next week, it’ll be incredible, as they have the Miami Heat, the Indiana Pacers and then the Lakers next Friday.