Back-to-back against wounded Mavs offers chance to pile on the misery
Winners of three straight and seven of their last eight, the Milwaukee Bucks are forming a finer-tuned machine during their march to the playoffs. Standing in their way tonight are the very lowly (and getting lower) Dallas Mavericks in a home tilt for the Bucks.
Where We’re At
They took their sweet time about it, but the Bucks were able to come away from a visit to Atlanta last night with a 127-121 win. A Giannis Antetokounmpo triple-double led the way with more substitute heroics from Kevin Porter Jr. helping stabilize the scoreboard in a critical fourth quarter stretch. While their record leaves much to be desired, the Hawks have been a tough out for Milwaukee for a bit now, so any victory over them (especially one on the road) is a big plus. Also encouraging was Kyle Kuzma gutting it out despite a recently sprained ankle to log 33 minutes of play and a double-double with 17 points (on 7-10 shooting) and 10 rebounds. Damian Lillard took an elbow to the eye and was able to play through it—adding 23 points of his own—but it looked painful in his post-game media appearance. We’ll see what his status is later today.
Things continue to go from bad to worse to disastrous for the Mavericks. You’d have to be living under a rock to have missed the league-wide mystification surrounding the decision to trade Luka Dončić. Then Anthony Davis picked up an injury one half into his Mavs career (he hasn’t been back) and now Kyrie Irving unfortunately tore his ACL the other night against Sacramento in a 98-122 defeat. Irving was just about the last guy holding that ship anywhere near afloat; expect his absence to push a tailspinning franchise into a full blown death whirl. Any team can beat any other team in the NBA, especially if the Bucks try to get some key guys rest, but it’ll be a skeleton crew the Mavs trot out there tonight.
And as a reminder, these groups just saw each other over this past weekend in a 132-117 road win for the Bucks. Of course, Irving was available in that one and scored 31. In contrast, it’ll be play by committee for Dallas this time around.
Injury Report
Milwaukee will have time to submit their report since this will be the second game of a back-to-back. They missed Pat Connaughton and Bobby Portis yesterday, but I wouldn’t be surprised if other guys (e.g., Lillard with his puffy eye) get a night off. We’ll see what the first report of the day says this afternoon.
Dallas, however, is missing… a lot. Kyrie Irving (torn ACL), Anthony Davis (left adductor strain), Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain), Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture), PJ Washington (right ankle sprain), Dante Exum (right foot contusion), Jaden Hardy (right ankle sprain) are all out. That’s seven of 15 players. Good news, though: Caleb Martin (right hip strain) is just doubtful!
Player To Watch
Uh, who the heck is even left for Dallas? 2025’s Klay Thompson? Sure. 2025’s Klay Thompson is your Player To Watch tonight.
(Max Christie is a frisky scorer who is taking advantage of an opportunity for a larger role since arriving in Dallas, so he’s a nice backup option to Klay for this designation.)
How To Watch
FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin at 7:00 p.m. CST.
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