The Milwaukee Bucks have a difficult yet attainable stretch of games ahead of them. Here’s a preview of the upcoming six-game road trip:
March 13th, Memphis Grizzlies: The Bucks will try for their seventh straight win Monday night against a struggling Memphis team, who has lost five straight games. The Grizzlies have slipped to the seventh seed out west but still have a comfortable five-game pad on Denver, who currently sit in eighth. The Bucks previously defeated the Grizzlies 106-96 back in mid-November and will go for the season sweep.
March 15th, Los Angeles Clippers: Similar to Memphis, the Bucks will be going for the season sweep here as well. Their current six-game win streak began with a 112-101 home victory over the Clippers back on March 3rd. The Clippers currently occupy the fifth seed in the Western conference and are just one game behind the Utah Jazz for fourth. Expect things to be chippy, Blake Griffin and Greg Monroe got into a bit of a scuffle last time and with the Clippers seeking revenge from their previous loss, it should only add to the fire.
March 17th, Los Angeles Lakers: These two teams faced off back on February 10th, the first full game the Bucks played without Jabari Parker. Khris Middleton was still getting his feet wet in the 2016-17 campaign, and the Bucks defense continued to struggle amidst a bad stretch of losses. Milwaukee allowed a season-high 47 points in the first quarter, and were unable to overcome that deficit despite 41 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo. Putting this into perspective, the Chicago Bulls scored only 26 points in the first half this past Sunday against the Boston Celtics.
March 18th, Golden State Warriors: This will arguably be the most difficult game of the entire road trip, coming on the second day of a back-to-back. The Warriors remain without superstar Kevin Durant and have struggled in his absence however, losing three straight and five out of their last seven. The Dubs need to figure something out fast with the San Antonio Spurs just a half-game behind them in race for first out west. Golden State previously defeated the Bucks in Milwaukee 124-121 back on November 19th.
March 21st, Portland Trail Blazers: The Portland Trail Blazers currently sit ninth out west, just 1.5 games behind Denver for the eighth seed. At 29-36, the Blazers need every win they can get, and what determines their fate generally relies on the performance of their backcourt; Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. The duo has combined to average 49.8 points per game and often times score way more than that. The recent acquisition of C Jusuf Nurkic has appeared to be a better fit than Mason Plumlee, who they sent to Denver in exchange for Nurkic last month. On March 9th against the 76ers, Nurkic posted a monster stat line of 28 points, 20 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, and six blocks. The Bucks defeated the Blazers 115-107 back on December 7th.
March 22nd, Sacramento Kings: The Bucks finish their six-game road trip in Sacramento, a team that currently lacks an identity. The shocking trade that sent their best player, DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans, this team has failed miserably. At first, this team remained determined to make the playoffs, winning their first game in the post-Cousins era over the Denver Nuggets back on February 23rd. That was their last win however, as they are currently on an eight game losing streak, the longest active in the NBA. Milwaukee will look to complete the season series sweep over the Kings, whom they defeated early on in the season.
