The Milwaukee Bucks will need to try to contain Jonas Valanciunas against the New Orleans Pelicans
One of the more interesting moves from this past offseason was the Pelicans acquiring Jonas Valanciunas from the Memphis Grizzlies.
Many expected him to be a much better floor spacer than the incumbent Steven Adams for Zion Williamson, but the latter hasn’t played a single game yet this season and Valanciunas has played some of the best basketball of his career this season in an attempt to keep the Pelicans afloat.
The Bucks were going to have a tough time containing Valanciunas already due to them not having Lopez available, but now things get even dicier without Antetokounmpo lurking to protect the rim. The 29-year-old is averaging 18.7 points and 12.1 rebounds per game this season. He’s shooting over 46 percent from 3 on nearly two and a half attempts and has a league-leading 23 double-doubles this season.
The shorthanded Bucks did a solid job against Domantas Sabonis all things considered, holding him to 16 points (on 68 percent true shooting, mind you) and forcing five turnovers. They were hyperactive on defense and they’ll need to do similar things against Valanciunas, although he is a much different (and larger) task.
As I mentioned, getting Cousins back will help in terms of him simply being a big body to throw at Valanciunas to get in his way, but no one should be expecting Cousins to be too much of a deterrent.
And if you’re thinking “well, how much can Valanciunas win a game on his own anyway?” He had a 39-point, 15-rebound performance earlier this season. This will be a big test for the undersized and undermanned Bucks.