The Milwaukee Bucks will be without star man Giannis Antetokounmpo after he was ejected from their last game against Washington Wizards. The Bucks did go on to win that game despite his absence and improved to a record of 56-16 for the season, the league's best and they remain top of the Eastern Conference and the central division. As for the Memphis Grizzlies they were beaten 122-107 by the Boston Celtics leaving them outside of the play-offs in the west and third in their Southwest division behind the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks.
There is no doubt Giannis will be huge miss for the Bucks but they did show they could play without him by defeating Washington. Milwaukee had slipped to back-to-back defeats over the past week losing out 114-106 against Toronto after a 136-132 loss in overtime to the Dallas Mavericks. Their record since returning to action stands at three wins and four losses but they do boast the best record in the league to date with a win percentage 77% and have won at least four more games than any other team, East or West. The Bucks do have a good head-to-head record when it comes to Memphis as they have beaten the Grizzlies in four of their last five meetings.
Memphis have struggled since the league resumed winning just one of their seven games in Orlando. Their poor form has seen the Grizzlies fall out of the play-off places but they have just one win fewer than the 8th seed Portland Trailblazers in the Western Conference so still have a chance of progressing. Defeats to Toronto and Boston now means the Grizzlies have lost 39 of their 72 games this season and they have one of the worst defences in the league conceding over 113 points on average per game. Yet they still have a chance of placing 8th on the final day of the regular season by beating the Bucks and hoping the Trailblazers lose to Brooklyn.
Without Giannis, Milwaukee are losing out on close to 30 points and with top-spot in the East already secured it is likely they will rest some other stars as they prepare for the play-offs. As for Memphis it's do or die and I wonder will Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer do his old assistant Taylor Jenkins a favor by gifting the Grizzlies a play-off spot. With the added incentive I feel I have to go a Grizzlies win and I'm confident they can overturn a pre-occupied Bucks team despite their poor form and that's what I'm backing here.