The Milwaukee Bucks visit the Moda Center tonight to face your Portland Trail Blazers. A victory would bring the Blazers back to .500 on the season.
Many expected Milwaukee to compete for a playoff spot this season, but the Bucks enter the matchup as one of the most disappointing teams in the league with a 29-42 record. The team was blown out by the Clippers 129-96 Monday night. It will be looking to bounce back against a Blazers team that is jostling for playoff positioning.
The Blazers visited the Bucks in November and triumphed in a 115-103 victory. Jerami Grant had 35 points in the win, but he is nursing a sore foot and is listed as questionable for tonight’s game. Though the team continued its trend of erratic, inconsistent play, Portland employed a physical brand of basketball to bully Brooklyn for a victory Monday night. Look for more of the same against the spiraling Milwaukee squad. Barring disaster, the Blazers should beat the inferior Bucks tonight.
Milwaukee Bucks (29-42) at Portland Trail Blazers (36-37) Wednesday, Mar. 25 – 7:00pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network
How to stream: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
How to listen: Trail Blazers Audio Network
Trail Blazers Injuries: Damian Lillard, Shaedon Sharpe, Yang Hansen, Jayson Kent, Caleb Love, Chris Youngblood (Out); Jerami Grant, Vit Krejci, Robert Williams III (Questionable).
Bucks injuries: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Porter Jr. (Out); Gary Harris (Day-to-day); Kyle Kuzma, Bobby Portis (Questionable).
Kit: The Blazers will take the floor in their traditional white Association Edition jerseys. Milwaukee will wear its green Icon Edition unis.
Trail Blazers: W at MIN, L at DEN, W vs. BKN
Bucks: L at UTA, W at PHX, L at LAC
Trail Blazers: Points, Avdija (24.1 per game). Rebounds, Clingan (11.7). Assists, Avdija (6.7). Steals, Thybulle (1.9). Blocks, Clingan (1.7).
Bucks: Points, Antetokounmpo (27.6 per game). Rebounds, Antetokounmpo (9.8). Assists, Porter Jr. (7.4). Steals, Porter Jr. (2.2). Blocks, Turner (1.5).
Trail Blazers: Offensive rating: 112.7 (23rd place) Defensive rating: 114.4 (16th place)
Bucks: Offensive rating: 112.3 (25th place) Defensive rating: 117.8 (25th place)
With Monday night’s win over the Nets, the Blazers guaranteed the team will finish no worse than 10th-place in the Western Conference, locking up a spot in the play-in. Joe Freeman of the Oregonian explains how play-in tournament seeding could shape up.
Portland’s postseason push will benefit from the NBA’s easiest schedule over the final three weeks of the season. Eight of their remaining 10 opponents have losing records and seven of the 10 games will be played at Moda Center.
The No. 9 and No. 10 seeds could come down to a pair of head-to-head meetings between the Clippers and Blazers — Portland visits Los Angeles on March 31, then hosts Los Angeles on April 10.
Damian Lillard’s return to Portland has been all good vibes in the Rose City. On the Game Theory Podcast w/ Sam Vecenie, the host detailed how the Bucks’ decision to waive-and-stretch Lillard’s contract to sign Miles Turner could be viewed with some chagrin.
“We have, if they decide to rebuild, $22 million of dead money on the books for the next four years after this one from the Damian Lillard waive-and-stretch. That $22 million, as we’ve seen, if you’re a rebuilding team, that really hinders you from taking back bad money in contracts to start to accumulate more and more draft capital.”
Many words have been spilled about the Bucks’ inability to surround Antetokounmpo with top-tier talent, but Mitchell Skurzewski at The Lead says fourth-year guard Ryan Rollins is emerging as a talent to watch.
Rollins was expected to be just a role player this year, but he quickly showed that he was more than that. In back-to-back breakout performances, he posted career-highs in points in the season’s first month. The Toledo product put up 25 points in a 121-111 victory over the Knicks. He then immediately followed it up with 32 points and eight assists in a 120-110 win over the Warriors with Giannis out.
Rollins dazzled against Golden State, shooting 13-for-21 overall and 5-for-7 from three-point range. It’s not just about offense for him, though, as he’s also demonstrated tremendous defensive ability.
What will you be looking for as you watch tonight’s game?
