MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Coming off their two lowest point-scoring totals of the season, the Milwaukee Bucks head back home tonight to play the Indiana Pacers, with LeBron James and the LA Lakers looming Friday.
In back-to-back games Sunday and Monday, the Bucks scored 93 and 89 points, respectively, losing the latter to the Miami Heat, snapping a six-game win streak.
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Oddly enough, the last loss before that for the Bucks came to the Pacers — right before the all-star break and without Giannis Antetokounmpo. This time, however, Victor Oladipo won’t play. But former Bucks point guard Malcolm Brogdon will.
In his first season with the Pacers, the 27-year-old is averaging 16.6 points, 7.3 assists. With the extended workload and no benefit of having Antetokounmpo as his “sidekick,” Brogdon is nowhere near the 50-40-90 club he made last year — shooting 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from deep and 90 percent from the line.
Brogdon is shooting just 44 percent from the field (50.5 last year), 31.4 percent from deep (42.6) and 89.5 percent from the line (92.8) this season.
As for Antetokounmpo, he’s coming off a season-low 13 points, when the Heat held him to 6-for-18 shooting.
For the season, the reigning MVP and current favorite to repeat, is averaging 29.6 points, 13.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 30.9 minutes.
The Bucks (52-9) have the best record in the league by 4.5 games over the Lakers and lead the Raptors by nine games for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.