Milwaukee Bucks vs. Phoenix Suns: Khris Middleton returns against KD

The other night, the Milwaukee Bucks took care of an Embiid-less Philadelphia squad to get back in the W column. Now, a new challenger enters the arena: the Phoenix Suns. Surprisingly, both squads will enter this matchup at full strength (as long as the day-to-day guys play), so we should hopefully be in store for a fun one!

Where We’re At

Last time we saw the Bucks play, they had a pretty solid win over Philly. Giannis had 32 points with great efficiency—as he often does. Brook Lopez and Damian Lillard also kept the wheels turning on offense, and Jae Crowder even got some threes to fall! As fun as it is to beat Philly (and it always is!) I’d like to move on and welcome Khris Middleton back into the rotation. He got banged up in early February on an ugly landing (against these same Suns), and we’ve had the pleasure of watching Crowder in the starting lineup ever since. While Crowder hasn’t been awful, Khris definitely has a higher ceiling on offense, so I’m excited to see him play, even if his usage is limited.

The Suns enter Fiserv Forum on the last leg of a four game roadtrip through the Eastern Conference. The Suns are 2-1 in their expedition, with a 15-point loss against Boston sandwiched between wins over Cleveland and Charlotte. In their most recent win over the Hornets, the stars had surprisingly low scoring outputs. Kevin Durant scored just 13 points, and Bradley Beal had 15. I will say, Devin Booker had 21, but besides that, it was death by a thousand cuts. The Suns implemented supremely even scoring distribution to take down the Hornets with the power of teamwork. Every starter had double digits, and Eric Gordon (remember him?) added an efficient 14 off the bench.

Injury Report

For the Bucks, Giannis is questionable with a left hamstring injury. Malik Beasley and MarJon Beauchamp are questionable with back spasms. Chris Livingston is out with a left ankle sprain.

On Phoenix’s side, Damion Lee and Josh Okogie are out.

Player to Watch

As badly as I’d like to call this a “Grayson Allen revenge game”, my player to watch is Khris Middleton. It’s his first action in a while, and I’m interested to see how hard Doc Rivers plays him today. If Middleton’s history is any indication, he will probably take a few games to play his way back into a rhythm, but crazier things have happened.

How to Watch

ABC at 12:00 PM (CDT)

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