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Optimism should be high for the Milwaukee Bucks right now. The team has won eight of their last nine games, and currently hold the third playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. Giannis Antetokounmpo is looking like an MVP candidate once for possibly a third consecutive year, with his first career set of back-to-back triple-doubles coming in the Bucks’ most recent games and New York and Washington. As it stands, Milwaukee has the 7th best record in basketball, and haven’t faced much adversity as of late. This week will be a bit of a challenge, though, as two of their three games are against teams in the top ten places in the NBA overall. Here’s what is in store.
Monday, March 15 at Washington (6 p.m., Fox Sports Wisconsin)
Milwaukee will open the week with the second half of a weekend series of games against the Washington Wizards. While the Bucks are riding high, Washington is struggling right now, losing their last three games and missing star guard Bradley Beal, who is listed as day-to-day with an injury. As mentioned before, Giannis Antetokoumpo racked up a triple-double against the Wizards on Saturday night, with 33 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds. Donte DiVincenzo also picked up a double-double, with 10 points and 13 boards. Hopefully the return matchup will allow for coach Mike Budenholzer to utilize more of his rotation.
Wednesday, March 17 at Philadelphia (6 p.m., ESPN)
The Bucks’ current road trip comes to an end on St. Patrick’s Day in Philadelphia, with a primetime matchup pitting Milwaukee against the Eastern Conference-leading 76ers. While Philadelphia has won their last four games coming into this week, they’ll be without center Joel Embiid, who sustained a bone bruise on Friday night and will be out for at least two weeks. Losing Embiid is a big blow, as he leads the team in points, rebounds and blocks. Much of those responsibilities will fall back on guard Ben Simmons and reserve center Dwight Howard on Wednesday night. Philadelphia looks like a potential post-season opponent if the Bucks advance to a later round, and it will take more than luck on Milwaukee’s side Wednesday night.
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Saturday, March 20 vs. San Antonio (8 p.m., Fox Sports Wisconsin)
Milwaukee returns home for the first of four games at Fiserv Forum on Saturday night, as the San Antonio Spurs come to town for their first meeting of the year. San Antonio are currently sitting 7th in the Western Conference heading into this week, and will be on the back end of consecutive games after playing in Cleveland on Friday night. San Antonio will also be capping off a five-game road stint in Milwaukee on Saturday, and travel fatigue should hopefully work in favor of the Bucks. While these two teams won’t meet again until the last five games of the year in May, neither team is looking to drop points in their respective playoff battles on Saturday night.
