Bucks at Knicks
The Milwaukee Bucks are more than just Giannis Antetokounmpo, and when the supporting cast steps up, the team is very dangerous. The Bucks will try to pull off consecutive wins when they visit the New York Knicks for a brief one-game road trip.
Antetokounmpo collected 36 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday but the biggest shot of the game belonged to swingman Khris Middleton, who drained a 3-pointer in the final seconds to give Milwaukee a 116-113 victory. "That's a big shot," Middleton told reporters. "You dream about that. You work on that as a kid growing up, and in the moment, you just live for it. And then sometimes you miss, sometimes you make it. You just have to shoot it." The Knicks are sliding again with losses to Detroit and Philadelphia following a season-best three-game winning streak. "All of it is a learning process for them," New York coach David Fizdale told reporters after a 117-91 loss to the 76ers on Wednesday. "Coming off a tough loss against Detroit ... then coming in here and you're playing against, quite arguably, a contender. This team is knocking on that door, especially with Jimmy (Butler) now. The Sixers came out with the right mentality. They weren't going to mess around with us."
TV: 5 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE BUCKS (15-6): Point guard Malcolm Brogdon went 4-of-16 from the floor in a 110-107 loss at Charlotte on Monday but bounced back with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting Wednesday. Brogdon buried all six of his 3-point attempts in the win and is shooting 47.4 percent from beyond the arc. "Just being aggressive where I can," Brogdon told reporters. "It's different every night for me. Some nights I'm going to drive the whole night, some nights it's going to be a mixture, some nights like tonight I'm going to shoot the whole night. It's just really making mental adjustments based on how your teammates are playing and how the other team’s playing."
ABOUT THE KNICKS (7-16): New York is trying to develop young talent and is still waiting for 2017 first-round pick Frank Ntilikina to blossom into a scoring threat. The former No. 8 overall pick went scoreless in each of the last two games on a combined 0-of-8 shooting off the bench. "(I make) the easy play, getting teammates involved," Ntilikina, who averages 2.7 assists, told reporters. "It's not always about scoring. I'm going to do what I do to bring the most to the team. If I'm not scoring, I'll try to do something else."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bucks C Brook Lopez is 4-of-27 from 3-point range over the last four games.
2. Knicks SG Tim Hardaway Jr. went 1-of-11 from the floor on Wednesday and is shooting 24.6 percent over the last four contests.
3. Milwaukee took the last six in the series, including a 124-113 home win on Oct. 22.