Portland Trail Blazers at Milwaukee Bucks 11/21/19: Starting Lineups, Matchup Preview, Daily Fantasy
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Portland Trail Blazers at Milwaukee Bucks Preview
Tonight’s matchup pits two teams against each other who are having completely different results to start the season. The visiting Portland Trail Blazers have plummeted down the Western Conference standings, in 13th place in the Western Conference with a 5-10 record. They’ve lost their last two games. The Blazers are also 4-6 on the road.
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks are tied for first in the Eastern Conference with an 11-3 record. They have won their last five games and are at home after spending the majority of their season on the road. The Bucks are 3-1 at home entering tonight’s matchup.
Both teams have key injuries, but Portland’s injury report seems to keep getting longer and longer as Damian Lillard is out. The Blazers signed Carmelo Anthony recently to help shore up their ailing frontcourt. Khris Middleton will also be out for the Bucks.
TV Schedule
Date: 11/21/19
Time: 8 PM ET
Arena: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, WI
Channel: TNT
Injuries
Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard, Jusuf Nurkic, Zach Collins (O), Anfernee Simons, Hassan Whiteside (DTD)
Bucks: Khris Middleton (O)
Portland Trail Blazers Starting Lineup
PG: Anfernee Simons
SG: CJ McCollum
SF: Rodney Hood
PF: Carmelo Anthony
C: Hassan Whiteside
Team B Analysis
The Portland Trail Blazers have lost four of their last five games, getting a single win against the also struggling San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. On Tuesday night, the Blazers lost to the New Orleans Pelicans 115-104.
Carmelo Anthony had his debut back in the NBA as he started for Portland and finished with 10 points and four rebounds in 24 minutes.
“It felt great just to be back into the flow of the game, be back on the court, be back to where I think I belong,” Anthony said. “As far as conditioning, though, I felt absolutely great out there. There was minor things, but it was more of the flow of things and getting used to how the team plays and sets and getting used to the guys on the team.”
Anthony struggled some from the field and the Blazers still lost, but expect Anthony to get more playing time as he spends more time in Portland.
Rookie forward Nassir Little has played well in the last few games. Against the Pelicans, Little came off the bench for 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Tonight, the Blazers will have their hands full with a Bucks roster that is mostly healthy aside from Khris Middleton. It’ll take a big game by CJ McCollum to be able to compete with Giannis and Co.
Blazers Quick Links: Blazers Starting Lineup, Blazers Roster, Blazers Depth Chart, Blazers Injuries, Blazers News, Blazers Schedule
Milwaukee Bucks Starting Lineup
PG: Eric Bledsoe
SG: Donte DiVincenzo
SF: Wesley Matthews
PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo
C: Brook Lopez
Bucks Analysis
The Milwaukee Bucks have been on fire as of late, tying the Los Angeles Lakers for the hottest streak at five wins apiece. They’ve cleaned through their latest Eastern Conference slate and will look to extend their streak tonight as they return home, something Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer is certainly happy about.
“We feel like we’ve been out for a long time, so it’s going to be great to be home,” Budenholzer said. “Our fans and the arena is so great in Milwaukee and the energy we get from them. We’ll need it.”
With Khris Middleton out, Budenholzer has started second-year guard Donte DiVincenzo, but Giannis Antetokounmpo has taken the brunt of the workload.
In their 135-127 win over the Atlanta Hawks last night, Giannis had 33 points and 11 rebounds. Eric Bledsoe also came up big with 28 points and seven rebounds in a game where all five starters reached double figures.
Tonight will be the second game of a back-to-back so Budenholzer managed his player’s minutes well yesterday, with Giannis being the only player to play 30 minutes.
Bucks Quick Links: Bucks Starting Lineup, Bucks Roster, Bucks Depth Chart, Bucks Injuries, Bucks News, Bucks Schedule
Key Player Matchups
Giannis Antetokounmpo vs. Carmelo Anthony
It’ll be interesting to see a matchup of players who might’ve both been expected to be dominant at this time in their career, but Giannis is an MVP-caliber player and we’re all still waiting to see what Carmelo has left in the tank.
Eric Bledsoe vs. Anfernee Simons
It’ll be the new guard versus the old guard as Eric Bledsoe and Anfernee Simons matchup tonight. Simons is an exciting, athletic player, but Bledsoe would love nothing more than to hold off any anointing ceremonies by locking up the young guard. Bledsoe is a stingy defender and he’s hard to stop running downhill with a full head of steam in fast-break situations.
Daily Fantasy
Giannis Antetokounmpo and CJ McCollum are fantasy studs for tonight’s game. Giannis always provides great fantasy value, and tonight should be no different as he is expected to finish with 60.48 points at a $10.6k salary on FanDuel. A lot of pressure falls on McCollum’s shoulders with Dame out and his $7.5k salary is good for a 37.9 point projection.
Anfernee Simons is a steal at $4.7k, especially when you pair that with a projection of 28.25 points. That equals to a high 6.01 points per $1k value.
Bet on Matchup
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