Game: Golden State Warriors @ Milwaukee Bucks
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Odds: Warriors +2, Bucks -2 Total: 224
The Milwaukee Bucks are a slim favorite over the Golden State Warriors tonight at the FiServ Forum. Milwaukee catches the Warriors on what is their worst stretch of the season. Golden State is 1-3 in its last four games. The Warriors lost on Tuesday night 116-108 to Memphis and their only win over the last week and a half was against Cleveland. The Bucks are in the same boat. They have just one win in their last five games. That was a 121-109 victory over Brooklyn last Friday. The Bucks are coming off back-to-back losses to Charlotte on the road. The big problem for Milwaukee in those two losses was not having guard Jrue Holiday who was out with an ankle injury. It hasn’t helped that George Hill and Grayson Allen have also been out of the lineup due to health and safety protocols.
Hill and Holiday are listed as doubtful for tonight. Allen has been upgraded to probable. Regardless, Milwaukee will lean heavily on its star, former two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.The Bucks leader is averaging 28.4 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. Milwaukee will rely on him and Khris Middleton who scores 19.1 points a game and also averages 5.5 rebounds. It will be up to those two to carry Milwaukee tonight. For the Warriors, it’s Stephen Curry leading the way with 26.8 points per game, but he recently got his Splash Brother Klay Thompson back in the lineup. Thompson has only played two games and he is clearly not completely back but he is averaging 15.5 points a game so far. Thompson will continue to get back to full strength after not having played for two years due to injury. The bigger issue for the Warriors is Draymond Green. Golden State is the best defensive team in the league and Green is a big part of that. He is out indefinitely with a calf injury and that will hurt tonight against a Bucks team that can score. Milwaukee is fifth in the league in scoring (111.8 ppg), but the Bucks have only hit their average once – in the win over Brooklyn – in their last five games.
Holiday happens to be the Bucks’ best defender and without him, Milwaukee’s defense could struggle. The total in each of the Bucks’ last three games have gone Under and Milwaukee leans Under for the season. The Under is 25-18 in Bucks games this season and 12-8 in Milwaukee home games. In four of their last five home games though, the total has gone Over for the Bucks. That’s interesting because in the last six Warriors-Bucks games the total has gone Over four times. As the league’s best defensive team, the Warriors trend Under as well. The Under is 25-13-2 in Golden State’s games this season. That includes a 12-7 record in road games. The last three games in this series have averaged a total of 228.