The towering big men of the Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs finally meet. The visiting Bucks, who capitalized on Victor Wembanyama’s absence, were victors in the previous encounter and will now look to sweep the season series for the first time since 2018.

Catch the game tomorrow at 9:00 AM, Manila time.

AWAY: Milwaukee Bucks (24-9, 8-7 AWAY)

Projected starting five:

• Damian Lillard
• Malik Beasley
• Khris Middleton
• Giannis Antetokounmpo
• Brook Lopez

While the Bucks are clearly the superior team, note that they will come in as losers of two-consecutive games while also on the second night of a back-to-back. They have also allowed 142 and 122 points in those defeats.

A small counter to those, however, is they’ve beaten the Spurs last December 20th (Manila time), 132-119. Giannis Antetokounmpo had a quiet game scoring-wise despite being a monster in the boards (11 pts, 16 rebs, 4/12 FGs), but Damian Lillard filled up the void by supplying 40 points on 7-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. 

Khris Middleton (17 pts) and Brook Lopez (14 pts) provided support, especially the latter as he also swatted six shots.

Milwaukee remains as one of the best offensive teams in the league, ranking second in points (124.6 PPG) and third in offensive rating. However, in turn, they are just 24th and 19th in points allowed and defensive rating, respectively.

HOME: San Antonio Spurs (5-28, 2-14 HOME)

Projected starting five:

• Tre Jones
• Devin Vassell
• Keldon Johnson
• Victor Wembanyama
• Zach Collins

Tomorrow’s another day for these young and talented Spurs to develop. As seen in their horrendous record, they are experiencing some growing pains. Make no mistake about it, though, they can be quite competitive once they put it together.

Rookie Victor Wembanyama, who was sidelined in that initial meeting with the Bucks, will figure to show up Giannis and company. Wemby is a probable Rookie of the Year winner courtesy of boasting team-highs 18.9 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 3.1 blocks per game.

Devin Vassell (18.1 PPG), Keldon Johnson (17.6 PPG), and Jeremy Sochan (10.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 4.0 APG) will be right there with the Frenchman. Johnson, in particular, had a double-double of 28 points and 12 boards in their last battle with Milwaukee.

San Antonio is 25th in scoring at 110.9 PPG, and dead-last in net rating at -11.5.

PREDICTIONS:

Handicap: The Bucks (-9.5) fail to cover the spread.

Over/Under: The total goes over 249