Team kicks off four game Western Conference road trip
Get your coffee machine brewing as the Milwaukee Bucks will be taking on the Los Angeles Clippers with a 9:30 tip time. This will be the first in a four-game road trip that will see the Bucks travel up and down the Pacific, venture into the mountain west, and finally down to Texas before returning home. Having won eight of their last 10 and five straight, can they keep the positive momentum going with the trade deadline looming?
Where We’re At
It has been a strange week for the Bucks, beginning with a trip to Louisiana to face the Pelicans. A historic snowstorm blew through; understandably, the city of New Orleans was essentially completely shut down, and Tuesday’s game was postponed. Getting back to Milwaukee to host the Heat was something of an adventure too, with flights out of NOLA resuming just a few hours before the original 6:30 p.m. (Central) start. Having only arrived in Milwaukee around 5:00 p.m., the league graciously pushed the game back an hour. Great. After an expected slow start, the Bucks would storm back in the second quarter against Miami, dropping 44 points led by a 14-point, four-rebound, and three assist-outburst from Damian Lillard. It was all Milwaukee after the half, and what could’ve been a clunker turned into a decisive win.
The Clippers will be no slouch by comparison. Kawhi Leonard only made his season debut on January 4th, but the rest of the team did well to compensate for his absence, building the second-best defense in the NBA. James Harden has led the way both scoring and creating for others, Norman Powell is averaging 23.7 PPG on .631 TS%, Ivica Zubac remains gigantic, and Tyronn Lue seems to still know what he’s doing as a head coach. They’ve gone 1-2 over their last three with defeats to the Bulls and Celtics (in OT), leavened by a 110-93 trouncing of the lowly Washington Wizards. As they work to integrate Leonard into the wider team dynamic, it’d be fair to say the Clippers are in something of a temporary transition. Can Milwaukee take advantage?
Injury Report
The early report has AJ Green (left quad strain) as out and Giannis Antetokounmpo (right patella tendinopathy) and Khris Middleton (bilateral ankle surgery injury management) are probable. Over on the other bench Kris Dunn (left knee injury management) and PJ Tucker (beefing with the franchise) are both out.
UPDATE: Bobby Portis (personal reasons) is also out tonight.
Player To Watch
Norman Powell has been a capable scorer no matter what NBA team has employed him (editor’s note: and always against the Bucks, who infamously traded the pick where he was drafted), but even the biggest optimists might be surprised at the leap he’s taken this year. A competitor for Sixth Man of the Year the past two seasons and a regular feature off the bench since arriving in LA in the 2021–22 season, Powell was elevated to the starting lineup this year and is posting career-highs in pretty much every statistical category. Most impressive may be the 43.3% he’s hitting from distance on 8.0 attempts a game. An effective high-volume scoring guard? That’s surely someone worth keeping an eye on.
How To Watch
FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin at 9:30 p.m. CST.
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