3 keys for Milwaukee Bucks in back to back against Los Angeles Clippers

Can Giannis Antetokounmpo wreck the Los Angeles Clippers’ interior defense?

Speaking of that Clippers defense, they’ve been one of the best teams at making opponents miss at the rim. They aren’t a Cleveland or Milwaukee where they don’t try to deter you from taking shots at the rim, they allow more than average, but they have one of the lowest field goal percentages against at the rim.

That may surprise you, especially without Leonard and George, but they’ve gotten the job done with Ivica Zubac (questionable for tonight, didn’t play in their last game), Isaiah Hartenstein, Nicolas Batum, and even an older Serge Ibaka. It only gets better with Robert Covington as well, who was easily the Blazers’ best rim protector.

Antetokounmpo is a whole different challenge than a traditional big man or a guard coming into the paint. One of the most dominant paint scorers year after year, the Clippers will have it tough finding someone to match up with him.

You’ll likely see the bigs I mentioned above all take cracks at him as well as Covington and Marcus Morris, who will try to get into Antetokounmpo’s head with his physicality, toughness, and… his words.

We’ve seen that one of the only ways to stop him is by throwing multiple bodies at him and giving him different looks, it’s one of the reasons that the Toronto Raptors are so successful against him. The Clippers may not have the same type of bodies that the Raptors do, but they have a lot of them and Tyronn Lue has been one of the more adaptable and creative coaches in the league.

Once again, this should be a fun one.