© Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
GAME DAY PREVIEW AND INJURY REPORT: The Milwaukee Bucks start the New Year against rival Indiana Pacers
Two of the league’s top offensive teams collide as the Milwaukee Bucks clash with the Indiana Pacers on Monday night. The Bucks and the Pacers are facing each other for the fourth time this season. Indiana leads the series, 2-1, with Milwaukee winning their last meeting 140-126.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was superb in that 14-point win after he exploded for a career-high and franchise-record 64 points. That game came to a controversial ending after Giannis clashed with some Indiana players for supposedly refusing to give him the game ball.
The Bucks have just ended a four-game road trip where they went 3-1. Milwaukee is currently second in the Eastern Conference with a 24-8 record. Indiana is in seventh place with a 17-14 card.
Milwaukee is looking to pick up from where they left off in December, where it went 11-2.
On a tear
The Bucks are 9-1 in their last ten games and scored 119-111 in their previous outing, with Antetokounmpo (34 points) and Damian Lillard (31 points) combining for 65 points. Over the last ten games, Giannis has averaged 31.8 points, and Dame has accumulated 25.9 points per contest.
The Pacers have 4-6 in their last ten games. Tyrese Haliburton has been brilliant for the Pacers in their previous two games after posting 20-20 performances.
Tyrese put up 21 points and what was then a career-high 20 points when the Pacers defeated the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, 120-104.
The cat-quick point guard collected 22 points and bettered his career, high in assists when he dished off 23 dimes in leading the Pacers to a 140-126 thrashing of the New York Knicks on Saturday night.
Injury report
The Bucks will be without Thanasis Antetokounmpo (personal reasons) and Jae Crowder (left adductor surgery), while MarJon Beauchamp (illness) is listed as questionable for the Bucks.
Bruce Brown (knee) is out for the Pacers.
