2025 sees meeting of teams on diverging paths
The Milwaukee Bucks will open the new year at home as they play host to the Brooklyn Nets tonight. These teams saw each other as recently as last week with Brooklyn outdoing the Bucks in the fourth quarter on their way to a 105-111 win. Since then, the Nets have jettisoned some more players via trade and are looking to better embrace the tank while Milwaukee will try to take advantage of another opportunity to play with their big three.
Where We’re At
Milwaukee ended last year on a positive note beating the Indiana Pacers on the road, 120-112. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard had ho-hum first halves, but Antetokounmpo would wake up in the third to led the Bucks past a Pacers team thrown into fits by Milwaukee’s zone defense. Contributions from around the rotation at timely moments helped build the stable base upon which Giannis could elevate. His jumpshot touch was pure from midrange and he did a great job picking his spots knowing when to attack and when to restrain himself in isolation looks. Given the vitriol built up between the teams last season—culminating in a first-round playoff series—it was surely cathartic to advance the season series to 2-0 over the Pacers.
Brooklyn jettisoned Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton (who almost single-handedly won them that previous game against the Bucks) in a weekend trade with the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for… D’Angelo Russell (plus Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks). The more things change, the more they stay the same. As an aside, the last time Russell made the trip from LA to Brooklyn it was part of a trade that saw Brook Lopez briefly become a Laker. Does DFS have future-Buck written all over him?
Anyways, Russell made his second debut with the Nets last night in a 113-130 drubbing at the hands of the Toronto Raptors. He finished with 22 points (on 9-13 shooting) and eight assists.
Injury Report
On Milwaukee’s side Giannis Antetokounmpo (right patella tendinopathy) and Khris Middleton (bilateral ankle surgery) are both probable while AJ Green is questionable (lumbar contusion).
Brooklyn played last night so they’ve until midday to submit their injury report. I note that Bojan Bogadanovic (foot), Cam Thomas (left hamstring), Trendon Watford (hamstring), and Ziaire Williams (knee) were all misses last night against Toronto and that Maxwell Lewis (possible knee) and Noah Clowney (back) had to leave proceedings against the Raptors due to injury. This will update once we get an official report.
Player To Watch
Let’s call it Russell on this one. In the last two games against the Nets the Bucks struggled to contain Dennis Schröder and Shake Milton for stretches (the former more prolific, the latter kind of confusing) which belies the trouble Milwaukee still has holding down offensively-minded guards with any level of speed/confidence. Russell will have one of the greenest lights in his career for however long he sticks around Brooklyn, so keeping him bottled up will go a long way to bolstering Milwaukee’s chances in this one.
How To Watch
FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin at 7:00 PM CST.
Playback Streaming
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