Following up one of their most impressive wins (and arguably their best quarter) of the season, the Milwaukee Bucks are back on the road for a one-game trip to New Orleans against the Pelicans.
It will be the first of two meetings between these teams, with the other being in Milwaukee on New Year’s Day. In the last three seasons, the Bucks are 5-1 against the Pelicans, but they did lose the most recent game in New Orleans last season.
However, many of the impact players from that game (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Zion Williamson) will not play in this one so it will be a battle between each franchise star’s respective supporting casts. If the game against the Indiana Pacers was any indication, Antetokounmpo’s supporting cast will do just fine.
Will Khris Middleton return for the Milwaukee Bucks against the New Orleans Pelicans?
I feel as though I speak for most when I say that when Khris Middleton limped off the court against the Boston Celtics, I expected a lengthy absence for the Bucks’ second star. Heck, even when the team announced that he suffered a hyperextended left knee as opposed to, well, the worst-case scenario, I figured it would be a few games until we saw Middleton on the court again.
But then he was listed as questionable for the Pacers game, then he did a pregame workout before being ruled out, and finally, we got this quote from head coach Mike Budenholzer (via Eric Nehm of The Athletic).
Budenholzer, on Middleton: "I think when you consider everything, I think (we feel) very fortunate. This should be very minimal and short. We'll see how he feels tomorrow and then going into the game on Friday, I think we'll be hopeful."
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) December 15, 2021
So, there is a very real chance that Middleton plays tonight which, naturally, would be huge for the Bucks (and for Middleton) considering that they’ll be without Antetokounmpo, Wesley Matthews, Donte DiVincenzo, among multiple others.
The Bucks won with 10 active players against the Pacers, but should at least be at 11 for tonight’s game as Budenholzer also said that he expects DeMarcus Cousins to return to the lineup after missing one game for personal reasons.
Cousins alone would be a big help against Pelicans big man Jonas Valanciunas (who we’ll get to more in a moment), but getting Middleton back would be a big boost for trying to navigate these next few games (including two sets of back-to-backs) without Antetokounmpo.