The Bucks will go from hosting the top team in the West to playing another juggernaut as they welcome the Denver Nuggets to Milwaukee on Friday night.
The reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder handled the Bucks on Wednesday night 122-102. The Thunder held a double-digit advantage from the middle of the first quarter on to hand Milwaukee its fifth loss in its past seven games.
It was a relatively quiet night for Giannis Antetokounmpo, though he still led with 19 points and 14 rebounds in his 31 minutes of restricted time. However, he was not quiet about his frustrations with the state of his team after the game.
“Not playing hard, not doing the right thing, not playing to win, not playing together. Our chemistry’s not there, guys are being selfish,” he said. “Guys are looking for their own shots instead of looking for the right shot for the team.”
Antetokounmpo went on to express concern over the lack of time remaining in the season for his team to figure things out.
“You need to go through this, watch film, work hard, and hopefully by that experience, eventually you’re going to get it. We don’t have time for that, we don’t. We got 39 games left. We don’t have time.”
To add to their woes, the Bucks will be without Kevin Porter Jr. (oblique) for some time. Coach Doc Rivers said Porter won’t play “anytime soon.”
Porter has been crucial to the Bucks, averaging 16.8 points, 7.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game this season.
Myles Turner (ankle) also missed the game on Wednesday and is listed as day-to-day.
Denver comes into Milwaukee on the second night of a back-to-back after handling the Wizards in Washington, 107-97.
Peyton Watson led Denver with a career-high 35 points along with eight rebounds. Jamal Murray added 24 points with five assists.
“Fearlessness, the audacity to do it against the best in the world. That’s what means the most to me is the mindset and the mentality behind it,” Watson said.
Denver remains without Nikola Jokic (knee), Christian Braun (ankle) and Cameron Johnson (knee), though Jonas Valanciunas (calf) returned and scored 16 points with nine rebounds.
“(Valanciunas) is so impactful for us, allows us to play normal NBA basketball. It’s nice to have him back,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “He allows us to get back to defensively what we’ve been doing early in the year as opposed to lately with all these guys out.”
The competition between the teams has been a remarkably tight as they have split the two-game season series in each of the past five seasons. Denver has the edge this season after a 108-104 home win over Milwaukee on Jan. 11.
That meeting nearly two weeks ago was another gut-punch of a loss for the Bucks, given they were playing a Nuggets team without five of their top seven players — Jokic, Murray, Johnson, Braun and Valanciunas. Tim Hardaway Jr. (25 points), Aaron Gordon (23) and Watson (19) led the charge for Denver.
