Milwaukee Bucks at Cleveland Cavaliers
Team Totals: Bucks 110.8, Cavs 106.3
Injury Report: Jarrett Allen (Q, illness), Lauri Markkanen (O, ankle), Giannis Antetokounmpo (P, knee), Grayson Allen (O, being a jerk), Wesley Matthews (O, knee)
Bucks projected starters: Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, Pat Connaughton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis
Cavaliers projected starters: Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen
Budenholzer quotes: Said Connaughton has been excellent at changing his role when needed, said they like to win it with defense.
Bickerstaff quotes: Said Ed Davis played great and made “game-winning plays,” said having some off-ball game from Darius with Rondo makes them so hard to guard, said Okoro is elite at stopping guys because he never gives angles, said Rondo didn’t have a minutes cap on him.
Stats and Notes:
*The Cavs are really playing well on the defensive end right now while the Bucks have also played like a top-10 defense this month (eighth in halfcourt). The Bucks are actually playing extremely fast lately at an NBA-high 13.3 seconds per possession in January, but the Cavs continue to be one of the slowest teams. This could be a bit of a grind.
*Jarrett Allen’s availability looks large on both ends of this matchup. In the first meeting, he got the Giannis assignment, but Giannis still fared well with a 27/12/2 line in just 27 minutes. Giannis probably won’t pop in projections, but I could see him smashing here with the Cavs being such a strong team defense to lower team expectations instead of a star of his caliber.
*Jrue Holiday is likely getting Isaac Okoro here. Jrue is getting a full workload of minutes, but I have some doubts on the assist output and this won’t be a great game environment overall. Not feeling it on Jrue.
*Khris Middleton will likely see a lot of Dean Wade, which is extremely interesting. The Cavs used Lauri Markkanen on him last game, and Bickerstaff seems to have confidence in using Wade in a similar role. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Okoro, but I’m not really a fan of the non-Giannis Bucks here anyway.
*Darius Garland is my man, but I can’t go there here. He will get Jrue Holiday, who is starting to look like himself. Jrue got the Garland assignment in the last game, and Garland put up a dud with a 10/3/9 line. Can’t do it. Please forgive me, Lord Darius.
*I’m not a fan of the Cavs at all here. Giannis will guard Mobley, which isn’t great for the rookie. Plus, Jarrett Allen coming off an illness takes him off the table.
Charlotte Hornets (back end) at Indiana Pacers
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