Milwaukee Bucks vs. Chicago Bulls Preview: One More to Go

The Milwaukee Bucks remain in hot pursuit of locking up the number one seed, and they control their own destiny with a matchup against the Chicago Bulls on tap for Wednesday evening. Win, and they’ve got the one seed locked up.

Where We’re At

Milwaukee just arrived from D.C. this morning, fresh off a Giannis Antetokounmpo triple-double (non-rescinded style) against the Wizards. Washington hung tough for a decent stretch of the game, but couldn’t hang with a hot shooting Bucks squad that paid off Giannis passes aplenty. We also got our first glimpse at Jae Crowder in the starting lineup with no Khris orGrayson Allen available, and he delivered for Bud from the outset with 19 points and nine rebounds on 11 shots. Jrue Holiday narrowly missed his own triple-double, notching 26 points, 10 assists and nine boards. He’ll get another chance to keep snagging reps with the Bucks core against Chicago.

Chicago, for their part, has looked decent of late going 6-4 in their last ten games. The arrival of Pat Beverley gave them another reliable point guard, and they still have shooters between Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. They’re fresh off losing to the Hawks on Tuesday night, a blow to their chances of moving up the standings at all as they’ve locked down the 10 seed. I respect the commitment of the Bulls fan in the graphic below of shirking the Bucks.

As for injuries, I’d expect Khris to be back for Milwaukee, while Grayson Allen and possibly Pat Connaughton (who left with an ankle sprain early in the Wiz game) to be out.

Player to Watch

Pat Connaughton left the Wizards game with an ankle sprain, so there could be chances for Wes Matthews to continue his ramp up as part of Bud’s rotation. My interest was piqued by Bud inserting him in so early against Boston, and I’m curious if he’s gonna be in his core group of players come Playoff time. He looked good against Washington with nine points on four shots.