Milwaukee Bucks at San Antonio Spurs 1/6/20: Starting Lineups, Matchup Preview, Daily Fantasy
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Milwaukee Bucks at San Antonio Spurs Preview
In the second game of their home and home series and the final game of their regular season series, the San Antonio Spurs play host to the Milwaukee Bucks tonight with hopes of avenging their Saturday night loss on the road against Milwaukee.
The Bucks still have the best record in the league at 32-5 and they have won their last five games. They are 8-2 in their last 10 games and are 14-3 on the road this season. San Antonio, meanwhile, has last their last two games and currently sit at eighth in the Western Conference with a 14-20 record. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games and are 10-9 at home at the AT&T Center.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks over the Spurs in their game on Friday, while DeMar DeRozan paced the Spurs.
TV Schedule
Date: 1/6/20
Time: 8:30 PM ET
Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
Channel: FSSW-SA, FSWIS
Injuries
Spurs: No Injuries
Bucks: Pat Connaughton (O)
Milwaukee Bucks Starting Lineup
PG: Eric Bledsoe
SG: Wesley Matthews
SF: Khris Middleton
PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo
C: Brook Lopez
Bucks Analysis
Every time the Bucks seem to show any form of vulnerability they end up snapping back in a big way. After their loss to Philadelphia, they have now won five straight after their win over San Antonio on Saturday. Now they are on the road for a game against the Spurs again tonight.
The Spurs, who have not had a successful season, gave the Bucks a good run, but Milwaukee outlasted San Antonio 127-118.
“We just kind of kept playing, stuck with it,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters after the game. “Played against a team that played really, really well tonight and able to get a 15-, 18-point cushion late — it’s a good win for us.”
Budenholzer knows San Antonio well, after serving on Popovich’s bench since early in his career, and reserve guard George Hill does too after playing several years in the Alamo City, so expect some adjustments tonight.
They were able to get to the line often on Saturday night, resulting in 32 points for Giannis, and Brook Lopez was an absolute beast with seven blocks. His brother, Robin, also contributed with 14 points and a few blocks as well, as they helped to shut down LaMarcus Aldridge.
Bucks Quick Links: Bucks Starting Lineup, Bucks Roster, Bucks Depth Chart, Bucks Injuries, Bucks News, Bucks Schedule
San Antonio Spurs Starting Lineup
PG: Dejounte Murray
SG: Lonnie Walker IV
SF: DeMar DeRozan
PF: Trey Lyles
C: LaMarcus Aldridge
Spurs Analysis
The Spurs are just hanging onto the eighth seed in the Western Conference and they’d love to try to get above .500, but the schedule makers gave them back-to-back games against the top team in the league, a team you can’t make mistakes against.
“Their record is there for a reason,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said of Milwaukee. “Tonight we made too many mistakes and had too many fouls. The competitiveness was there, and we have to play better on Monday night, give them a run and try to win a basketball game.”
On Saturday night, Popovich started Derrick White with Dejounte Murray out for personal reasons, and Lonnie Walker IV got the start over Bryn Forbes. Forbes has been struggling as of late, and the fanbase in San Antonio has been wanting more minutes for Walker who was originally playing few to none as he was behind DeMar DeRozan and Marco Belinelli in the rotation.
“I thought Lonnie was wonderful,” Popovich said. “He looked calm and played good, solid basketball. He’s getting some things done — he’s a heck of an athlete, and he adds something to the group that we don’t really have.”
While Walker didn’t have the game he had recently, his athleticism and ability to defend several positions certainly is a difference-maker out there, especially when compared to Forbes.
The Spurs will hope to get Aldridge going early again, but keep him scoring consistently throughout the game. With Murray back, it gives the Spurs two players who can defend multiple positions and make the Spurs much more athletic, which is needed against a team like the Bucks.
Spurs Quick Links: Spurs Starting Lineup, Spurs Roster, Spurs Depth Chart, Spurs Injuries, Spurs News, Spurs Schedule
Key Player Matchups
Giannis Antetokounmpo vs. LaMarcus Aldridge
It looked like LaMarcus Aldridge was going to get the better of this matchup, scoring 14 first-quarter points, but then the Bucks put the clamps on him and allowed only two more points from Aldridge the rest of the game. The Spurs made Giannis work for his buckets, but he still managed 32 points and eight rebounds.
Khris Middleton vs. DeMar DeRozan
DeRozan got the better of the matchup on Saturday night, scoring 26 points and dishing five assists to Middleton’s 20 and three. The Spurs lean on DeRozan quite a bit for scoring, but I fully expect Mike Budenholzer to make some adjustments to his defense tonight.
Daily Fantasy
DeMar DeRozan and Giannis Antetokounmpo are fantasy studs in tonight’s matchup. DeRozan is available for $7k on FanDuel and is projected to finish with 31.8 fantasy points. Giannis is available for $10.9k and is projected for 48.9 points.
Rudy Gay is a nice value option at $4.3 k for 24.3 points, and Brook Lopez is available for just $5.5k with a projection of 24.6 points.
Bet on Matchup
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