Bucks seek strong finish to road trip
DENVER - It wasn’t always pretty, but the Milwaukee Bucks found a way to score critical wins on Thursday and Friday in their back-to-back set on the road against the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers.
By virtue of those victories, with the latter coming in overtime after coughing up a 21-point second-half lead, the Bucks have found themselves in a familiar situation.
In their second four-game Western Conference trip this season — tied for their longest stretch away from home — Milwaukee again holds a chance to secure a winning West Coast trip.
In November, the Bucks put an exclamation point on a 3-1 Western Conference road trip with a 103-91 victory in Portland. At 7 p.m. Sunday night, they’ll try to achieve a similar result when they face off against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center.
“The way I see it we’re playing really, really good basketball right now,” Bucks all-star Giannis Antetokounmpo said referring to his team’s four wins in the past five games, including three on the road.
“We’re playing hard. Hopefully, we can go to Denver and execute and get a win so after this road trip, I know that we’ve played good basketball so that can translate into the playoffs, too, and the few games we have left.”
As difficult as it was back in November to secure that win in Portland — a widely considered tough place to play — the Bucks should face an even more difficult task on Sunday. Not only did the Bucks get rolled, 134-123, by the Nuggets on Feb. 15 in Milwaukee, but they also are going into an arena where they haven’t won since 2010 and are facing an undeniably desperate Denver team.
While the Bucks and Nuggets both hold the same record at 41-35, their playoff prospects are quite different. Milwaukee is a virtual lock for the playoffs and would essentially only miss if they lost their final six games and the Detroit Pistons won out.
For the Bucks, each of their recent games has been critical for securing that advantage and giving them a chance to move up in the standings, where they are currently in eighth in the Eastern Conference tied with the Miami Heat, which own the tiebreaker.
With four straight sellout crowds, including three on the road, the Bucks have had to deal with playoff-type intensity along with major postseason implications hanging in the balance.
“It’s almost right now like we’re playing playoff games, playing away,” Antetokounmpo said. “So it’s almost preparing us for playoffs.”
The Nuggets aren’t just seeking a better playoff spot; they need every win in the worst way just to get in. Denver is currently tied with the Los Angeles Clippers, two games behind the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans for the last playoff spot.
While the Nuggets ostensibly have their backs further pressed up against the wall, the Bucks certainly are feeling urgency as well.
“It’s great, but we need to go get the next one,” Bucks coach Joe Prunty said of Friday’s win over the Lakers. “I’ve had a lot of questions about the playoffs. One, we’re not in. Two, there’s also positioning and things like that and trying to move up . ...
“For us, we need to be playing well. That’s as simple as it gets; that’s the lowest common denominator for us. I think in these last five games we have played very good basketball and had some really nice wins against some tough opponents.”
It’s possible the Bucks could be closer to full strength on Sunday, though the status of their four injured players remains unknown.
John Henson (right index finger sprain), Thon Maker (right groin strain), Malcolm Brogdon (partially torn left quadriceps tendon) and Matthew Dellaveodva (right ankle sprain) all missed Friday’s game in Los Angeles. The team had an off day in Denver on Saturday.
Jennings will stay: Guard Brandon Jennings will sign with Bucks for the rest of the season, a league source confirmed Saturday.
In 10 games since joining the Bucks on March 11, Jennings has averaged 5.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per contest.