Tonight’s prime-time NBA action designates itself in Cream City (’cause apparently, that’s the new nickname for Milwaukee, Wisconsin that’s plastered on the Bucks’ new City Edition jerseys announced yesterday) as the 11-3 Milwaukee Bucks start their four-game home stand against the 5-10 Portland Trail Blazers.
The scuffling Trail Blazers are in desperate need of some tallies in the win column to start the 2019 season, because this is the exact worst-case scenario that Terry Stotts’ Blazers could have ran into. A team that was literally in the teeth of the Finals picture with their first visit to the conference finals since 2001 back in May, is currently doing everything they can to weather the typhoon of injuries befallen onto them.
They’ve been lead by the monstrous nightly offensive exhibit by Damian Lillard, though in trying to keep the Blazers in the lane of consideration as contenders, has looked at times like he is hanging on by the most diminutive of threads in this premature year. He’s out tonight and in his place, Terry Stotts is going to start the combination of Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood.
The 14th ranked offense (and 22nd ranked defense) have been assessed in the most tedious ways this season, and that’s a given considering they play in the West. But the result hasn’t been desirable and the tandem of Dame and CJ are off to arguably the slowest start in their time together as teammates. Tonight, their Eastern road trip gets that much more tumultuous, as they’ll have to deal with the NBA’s second-highest scoring team in the Milwaukee Bucks without Lillard’s 30+ point contribution.
Fresh off a tight 135-127 road win against the spunky Atlanta Hawks, league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks fly back home in a back-to-back to face the Blazers, and with the incentive of obtaining an Eastern – and league best – record since the Celtics were defeated in overtime against the streaking Los Angeles Clippers, that No. 1 spot looks like a pot of gold that’s just inches from the feet of a team that’s already a favorite to win the conference at year’s end.
But the Bucks don’t have just McCollum to game-plan over. A new factor is thrown into the equation, and depending on how his second night and first back-to-back goes for Carmelo Anthony, could very well determine the outcome of this matchup.
Anthony looked rusty as anyone could have predicted. I mean, it was his first day on an NBA floor in approximately 376 days, but 10 points and 14 good looks put up around and inside the perimeter is a decent start for the low-risk, high reward experiment that is Melo’s return, and best believe this won’t be the ordinary limit to his productivity, especially when he gets accustomed to Stotts’ system.
It should be interesting to watch how defensively both teams adjust to one another for the first of two games tonight on TNT. How will Eric Bledsoe fare in having to guard and switch on the equally-physical, Ball IQ-savvy and shifty CJ McCollum?
Can Hassan Whiteside uphold the fortress inside, defending Antetokounmpo at the apex whenever the Greek Freak attempts to fly at the rim? And since both of these teams are in the top-10 in terms of pace (Bucks 1st, Blazers 10th), just what kind of breakneck speed do both squads operate at for all four quarters?
Those questions and more get answered tonight at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m CT on TNT.
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