Bucks look for positive close to road trip
A tough Western Conference road trip comes to a close for the Milwaukee Bucks as they finish their four game road trip in Texas against the San Antonio Spurs. Win tonight and all of a sudden a .500 stint away from Fiserv Forum without rotation pieces and a road SEGABABA thrown in for good measure won’t look so bad!
Where We’re At
It will have been a very welcome two days of rest for a Bucks team that has been away from home for effectively two weeks. They’re 1-2 on this road trip with the latest result being a pretty thorough 125-112 whooping at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers. How much stock to put into that result is a YMMV exercise: the Blazers have played Milwaukee tough in all four matchups since Damian Lillard arrived in the summer of 2024, the Bucks were on a road SEGABABA, had run heavy minutes the night before against the Jazz, and hit Portland just as the Blazers are hitting something of a stride. Giannis Antetokounmpo looked physically depleted by the third quarter, Khris Middleton registered a second zero point outing in three games (although this was his first attempted back-to-back of the year), and Lillard was relatively muted. Missing two rotation pieces yet again certainly didn’t help.
For the San Antonio Spurs and sophomore Victor Wembanyama this campaign has represented a firm step forward both in his personal progression and for the team as a whole. They’re only two wins off their total mark from last season, have climbed into the middle of the pack on offense and a pace behind on defense, and there’s plenty of young talent to still develop beyond Wemby. 10 of the 15 full roster players had three or fewer years of professional experience heading into this season. Their last time on the court resulted in a 128-116 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
Victor is, of course, the star of the show as he averages 24.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 3.9 blocks while toting a league-leading 10.4% block rate. Of note, former-Buck Sandro Mamukelashvili is not only still in the NBA, but occasionally popping up for a 10 minute shift here or there under the guidance of Gregg Popovich. Happy for him.
These two teams met last on January 5th in Milwaukee in a 121-105 rout by the Bucks. That was the first night of Khris Middleton’s current move out of the starting lineup and onto the bench. More importantly, the Antetokounmpo-Wembanyama duel provided plenty of fireworks. Here’s hoping we get more tonight.
Injury Report
The current injury report has Bobby Portis (personal reasons) as still out, AJ Green moved to questionable (left quad strain), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (right patella tendinopathy), Damian Lillard (left groin soreness), and Khris Middleton (bilateral ankle surgery injury management) as probable.
San Antonio only has Sidy Cissoko (concussion protocol) listed as questionable.
Player To Watch
How about Chris Paul as the 39 year-old takes an NBA court in the twighlight of his hall of fame career? Even at his age he’s churning out typically Paul-like creative numbers, averaging 29.1 minutes played, 9.4 points (.415/.358/.970), and 8.2 assists. His advanced on/off numbers suggest he remains a positive force on the court and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he has eyes primarily for Victor Wembanyama—Paul’s target for one if every four passes he’s made this year.
How To Watch
FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and at the following local stations at 7:00 p.m. CST:
WMLW & WYTU (Milwaukee)
WISC (Madison)
WMEI (Green Bay)
WECX (Eau Claire/La Crosse)
WYOW (Wausau)
WQAD (Davenport, IA, Rock Island/Moline, IL)
Playback Streaming
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