Eric Bledsoe

Eric Bledsoe has been big spark for Bucks

Published Dec. 13, 2017 4:46 p.m. ET

There's no denying Eric Bledsoe has been a spark for the Milwaukee Bucks. Just look at their record since acquiring the exciting guard.

Before Bledsoe's arrival in a trade with Phoenix, the Bucks were 4-6. Since the addition of the guard, Milwaukee is 11-4.

That is no coincidence.

Bledsoe is putting up numbers rarely seen by a player in his first season in Milwaukee. Entering Wednesday's game in New Orleans, Bledsoe is averaging 18.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists in a Bucks uniform. Only two other players in franchise history have averaged 15+ points, 4+ rebounds and 4+ assists in their first season as a Buck -- Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson (19.4, 5.7, 8.2 in 1970-71) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (28.8, 14.5, 4.1).

The addition of Bledsoe's offensive game coupled with the way Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton are playing has helped Milwaukee score 100+ points in nine straight games, the longest such streak for the team since a 12-game tear from Nov. 17-Dec. 9, 1990 (the Bucks also had a nine-game streak from Nov. 26-Dec. 13, 2014).

Could Wednesday night see it reach 10 in a row? Well, New Orleans has allowed 110 or more points in nine consecutive games (going 3-6 in that span).

Antetokounmpo is second in the NBA in points per game (29.8) while Middleton is chipping in 20.1 points an outing. If the pair can keep it up, they'd be just the seventh Bucks combo to average better than 20 points per game in a season and first since Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson, who did it three times, the last in 2001-02. The other couplings: Vin Baker and Robinson (twice), Sidney Moncrief and Marques Johnson (twice), Terry Cummings and Moncrief, Adbul-Jabbar and Bob Dandridge and Abdul-Jabbar and Flynn Robinson.

Other notes:

--Milwaukee's EKG (more on that in here) are also a big reason why the Bucks' starting five is shooting 50.2 percent from the field this season, which is best in the NBA. The Pelicans are second at 50.0 percent.

-- Middleton has scored 20+ points in three consecutive games, his longest such streak since he did in five straight from Feb. 25-March 4, 2016.

Statistics courtesy STATS

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Eric Bledsoe

Milwaukee Bucks