SACRAMENTO -- The Sacramento Kings return home to Golden 1 Center Wednesday night to face the upstart Milwaukee Bucks. After three games on the road, the Kings will play one in front of the Sacramento crowd before heading back out on the road Friday when they face the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena.
Dave Joerger and his young core of Kings have gone 3-10 since the All-Star break, but they compete on a nightly basis and are showing promise. Rookies Skal Labissiere, Buddy Hield and Georgios Papagiannis have each had breakout games and second-year big Willie Cauley-Stein is posting 13.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 32.5 minutes since the big roster shake up in late February.
The Bucks are 9-2 over their previous 11 games, surging into the playoff conversation after a rough start to the season. Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the way for a young Milwaukee team that has had to adjust on the fly after another devastating injury to forward Jabari Parker.
OPENING LINE:
Bucks by 5
MATCHUP TO WATCH:
? vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo -- It's the same question we asked when these two teams met in the first two weeks of the 2016-17 season, only it's a little more difficult to answer. Rudy Gay is done for the year, Matt Barnes is a Warriors and Omri Casspi plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. What is left at the small forward position is a collection of undersized wings that will face one of the league's best young small forwards. At 6-foot-11, Antetokounmpo plays like a guard, but can put you on a poster in the blink of an eye. If the Greek Freak gets loose, it's going to be a long night for Sacramento.
WHERE THEY STAND:
Kings: 27-43, third place in Pacific
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Bucks: 35-35, third place in Central
INJURY REPORT:
Kings: SF Tyreke Evans (ankle) will play, C Kosta Koufos (rest) is out, PG Ty Lawson (rest) is out, SG Malachi Richardson (hamstring) is out, F Rudy Gay (ruptured left Achilles) is out.
Bucks: F Jabari Parker (knee) out, F Michael Beasley (knee) out.
SERIES HISTORY:
Milwaukee leads the season series 1-0 over Sacramento after beating the Kings 117-91 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Nov. 5. The Kings own a 28-27 lead over the Bucks during the Sacramento-era.
QUOTE:
"I'm blessed and excited and happy to have this opportunity to have a beautiful young baby girl in my life right now. It changes a lot for me right now. I'm definitely in a state of shock and at a loss for words. At this point, I'm just like, man, I'm really a father. It's a dream come true." -Ben McLemore on the birth of his first child, Teagan Joyce McLemore
