After an exhilarating game last night, there’s no rest for the Milwaukee Bucks as they return home tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers. The good news for the Bucks is that the Clippers also played last night so both teams will be equally tired!
This will be the fourth of an eight-game stretch where the Bucks face, at the very least, a notable team (I can’t say playoff teams because the Clippers and Brooklyn Nets are in the play-in, but they’re still notable or good teams) and so far things have gone… well enough.
The Bucks beat the Clippers in Los Angeles back in February by 24 points but you shouldn’t expect another blowout, thanks in part to a particularly important player returning for the Clips.
The Milwaukee Bucks will need to find ways to slow down Paul George
After missing three months or so with an elbow injury, the Clippers got one of their two superstars back at the perfect time when Paul George returned earlier this week.
He looked as good as ever too, scoring 34 points on 68 percent true shooting to go along with six assists, four steals, and a block in a comeback win over the Utah Jazz.
George remains one of the best two-way wings in the entire league and, as shown already, can still lead the Clippers to wins over quality opponents even after a three-month layoff.
The good news for the Bucks is that they have been able to slow him down in the past. Last season, George only played in one of the two meetings and was held to 16 points on 38 percent true shooting and turned the ball over three times as well as picked up three fouls. He did still manage to dish out seven assists, but you’ll take that over 34 points on great efficiency in addition to five or more assists.
In that game, George shot a combined 2-of-8 against Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday as well as 3-of-8 against Brook Lopez. That was also with Kawhi Leonard drawing some of the defensive attention as well, so with the Bucks being able to key in on George even more, perhaps his stat line will look more like that last game against the Bucks as opposed to what it was against the Jazz.