LaMelo Ball has been scoring at a rapid clip for the Charlotte Hornets, who could need another enormous output from their star guard with the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo visiting Saturday afternoon.
Antetokounmpo’s 59-point outing in Milwaukee’s 127-120 overtime victory against visiting Detroit on Wednesday means he has led the team in scoring in four straight games. That production, which also included 14 rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots, came in 43 minutes all while head coach Doc Rivers pondered whether he should be tapping the brakes.
“It’s right up there. I’ve seen a lot of great games,” Rivers said. “It’s funny how a coach thinks … ‘We’ve got to figure out how to get someone else involved in this game.’ … That’s how you feel. Then after the game, you realize how special that is.”
Antetokounmpo scored all except two of Milwaukee’s 24 points in the first quarter, at least a temporary salve for the Bucks’ slow start to the season.
“Sometimes you have to be aggressive for the team,” Antetokounmpo said.
The Hornets stumbled 114-89 to host Orlando on Tuesday night with Ball scoring 35 points. Ball is averaging 29.9 points per game, leading Charlotte in scoring in all except two games.
The Bucks and Hornets are off to less-than-ideal starts to the season. Each team has four wins.
The Bucks’ win over the Pistons gives Milwaukee a winning streak for the first time this season. They have posted victories in three of their past five.
“It tells you we’re very, very connected as a team,” Rivers said. “I don’t like our record. I start to like it more and more with each win.”
However, Milwaukee won’t be at full strength on Saturday.
The Bucks were hoping Damian Lillard could be back in action for the game in Charlotte after he missed the past two games due to concussion protocol, but he was ruled out for Saturday. Lillard has averaged 26 points and 6.6 assists per outing across 10 games.
Without Lillard, the Bucks might lean more on Gary Trent Jr., whom they are optimistic is getting untracked. He had gone 1-for-18 on 3-pointers in a five-game stretch before draining three shots from beyond the arc Wednesday night.
“Gary can shoot and I kept saying that it’s going to come at some point,” Rivers said. “He did need to see the ball go in, period.”
The Bucks, who’ve lost five consecutive road games, also had Bobby Portis Jr., who’s averaging 12.9 points per game, out earlier this week with an elbow injury. Portis was listed as doubtful for Saturday.
Forward Grant Williams moved into Charlotte’s starting lineup for the Orlando game, replacing Tidjane Salaun. Tre Mann sat out the game in Orlando because of a lingering injury, but he wasn’t on the injury report ahead of the Milwaukee contest.
“We missed him in a lot of different ways,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said.
The Bucks have shown the willingness to alter their defensive strategy, turning to a zone against the Pistons.
“It just took them off stride a little bit,” Rivers said.
The Hornets, who’ve lost two in a row, will need to solve whatever defense they face. They managed a season-low point total in Orlando to go with a season-high 22 turnovers.
“A couple of the turnovers, I would say, we saw the right play and just couldn’t execute,” Lee said. “This is good for us to learn. We see that the bigs are up in pick-and-roll, our big is rolling, we try and make that pass and it’s a little high or it’s a little wide. It’s actually encouraging for me because I know as we continue to go through this season, we’re going to keep getting better and better.”
