3 things to watch with Milwaukee Bucks on the road against Boston Celtics

Could this be a “schedule loss” for the Milwaukee Bucks?

For those of you that are unaware, a schedule loss in the NBA is when a team has a particularly tough part of the schedule in regards to games played in a certain amount of time and travel as well. That’s what the Bucks are facing in tonight’s game.

This will be the fourth game in six days for the Bucks and the end of a four-game road trip. On this trip, they went from Milwaukee to Miami, then to Houston, back over to New York, and then a short trip to Boston. The silver lining in regards to the travel and being on the second night of a back-to-back is that the game yesterday was early and they’ll have some extra time to rest as opposed to a traditional back-to-back.

However, the Celtics are still at an advantage after having had the last two days off following a five-game road trip (where they went 1-4).

The Bucks could rest players as Jrue Holiday has played in 20 consecutive games but is also in a rhythm offensively, especially with how efficiently he’s scored in the last 10 or so games. They could rest Khris Middleton, perhaps to give him a bit of a breather to reset after a tough stretch of games for him. Or even Giannis Antetokounmpo will all of the bumps and bruises he has taken as of late. It would also not be a surprise to see George Hill miss the game after returning from injury yesterday.

Nothing can be assumed with how the Bucks have operated with injuries this season with players listed as probable eventually missing games but with how they have handled back-to-backs in the last few seasons, this would be a spot where the Bucks could opt to sit some guys.

The Bucks are also in a good spot in terms of the standings (which doesn’t really matter in December), sitting at 18-10 as opposed to earlier in the season where they needed to start stacking up wins and couldn’t afford to rest players.