The Milwaukee Bucks got an early Christmas gift in the form of a rare road victory on Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis.
Is it greedy to covet a post-Christmas road win, too?
The Bucks will get the opportunity to make it two straight when they visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.
They knocked off the Pacers, 111-94, behind Kevin Porter Jr.’s 24 points, six rebounds and five assists.
“Everyone was involved,” Porter said. “Even last game (in Minnesota) everyone was involved and like (coach) Doc (Rivers) always says, we’re trending in the right direction and we just gotta keep trusting the schemes, trust ourselves and just go out there and play. I think when we don’t have expectations and our only expectation is to have fun out there, I think we’re a lot better team.”
The Bucks, playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo, snapped an eight-game road losing streak and gained a much-needed boost of confidence.
“To be honest, man, it’s been up and down all year so it feels very good, especially going into Christmas break, we got a couple days off to relax with our families, so definitely when you win it kind of makes everything feel better, right?” Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr. said. “It feels good going into the holiday.
“But credit to all our hard work, man. We’ve been in the lab grinding, just trying to make it work, make it flow, putting in a lot of new things and implementing sliding on offense, low man on defense. Guys came in and had a ton of energy tonight and it was good to get a win, especially in this hostile environment which over the years we’ve kind of struggled in. It feels great.”
Antetokounmpo has been sidelined since Dec. 3 with a right calf strain but went through some 3-on-3 work earlier this week following a team shootaround at Indianapolis.
Memphis overcame a rash of injuries to key players, including starters Ja Morant and Zach Edey and key reserves Cedric Coward, Brandon Clarke and Vince Williams Jr., to defeat the Utah Jazz 137-128 on Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
Santi Aldama tied a career high, which he set earlier this month, with 37 points against the Jazz. Aldama made a career-best seven 3-pointers and added seven assists and five rebounds.
The Grizzlies also got a strong performance from forward GG Jackson II, who recently returned from a stint with the franchise’s G League team. Jackson made his first start of the season at Utah and scored 18 points with a team-high nine rebounds.
Jackson, 21, is in his third year with the Grizzlies and he asked for the move to the G League in order to get more playing time.
Against Utah, he made 7 of 9 shots from the field, including a dunk in the fourth quarter that gave Memphis a nine-point advantage.
“GG has gotten the opportunity to be with the G League team and get some game reps and you can really see it in his comfort level,” coach Tuomas Iisalo said. “We felt great about having him in the starting lineup.”
