The constant demon for the Detroit Pistons over the last few years has been the Milwaukee Bucks. No matter the circumstance surrounding each team’s roster, the Bucks have always had the Pistons’ number. The Pistons were able to exercise their demons a bit when they defeated the Bucks earlier this season, but that was also without Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Giannis is back and should be extra motivated as the Bucks come off a bad loss to the Washington Wizards on Monday. They enter this game with a 9-13 and record and a 2-8 record over their last 10 games. Many of those games were without Giannis Antetokounmpo, but for a team that was hoping to be competing in the Eastern Conference, not being able to win without your star does not bode well for making any kind of playoff run.
The Pistons played an ugly game on Monday against the Atlanta Hawks, but were able to come out on top. In a sport with such a long season, you take any wins you can get no matter how ugly they are.
Hopefully it won’t take as ugly of an effort to win tonight for the Pistons.
**Where:** Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI
**When:** Wednesday, December 3 at 8 pm EST
**Watch:** Fan Duel Sports Network Detroit
**Odds:** Pistons (-4.5)
I never thought I would see the day where the Pistons are road favorites over a pretty much fully healthy Milwaukee Bucks team, but here we are. Despite the fact the Pistons are favored and the Milwaukee Bucks have been struggling mightily, I can never have any confidence when it comes to playing the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo and that is pretty much all that matters. The only time the Pistons have beaten the Bucks in the last 3 years has been when Giannis didn’t play in a 129-116 Pistons win on Nov. 22. The Bucks looked overmatched in that game without their star as the final score doesn’t accurately show how dominant the Pistons were.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is almost averaging as many points (30.6) as minutes (30.8) this season, but he also leads the Bucks in rebounds, assists, and pretty much every other category and box score metric you have access to. If it weren’t for the Bucks struggling and Giannis missing a few games, he would be firmly near the top of the MVP race. He should be anyways given how the Bucks play without him, but we all know voters don’t look at things that way.
When the Pistons and Bucks faced off last time, Ryan Rollins was in the midst of a big-time breakout stretch of basketball. He has cooled off a bit since then, but he is still their most consistent scoring threat outside of Giannis. You could argue Kevin Porter Jr. is and he is coming off a crazy 30 point game against the Wizards on 12-of-15 shooting from the field.
I don’t really have any expectations of shutting down Giannis, who has always had the Pistons number and is also playing angry because of the Bucks’ recent stretch. But, if the Pistons allow Rollins or Porter to get going, they could be in for another long night against the Milwaukee Bucks. The downfall of the Pistons against the Bucks has mostly been their inability to stop the other guys around Giannis, like Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis, and the many other bench players who have had some of their best games against the Pistons.
Speaking of Portis, he is another player to look out for as he cooked the Pistons for 18 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc in the last matchup.
I would expect to see a lot of Isaiah Stewart on Giannis, who has actually done a pretty solid job defending him over the years. He will just have to make sure he keeps his temper in check, as he was tossed from a Bucks game last season for fouling Giannis hard.
On paper, this should not be a difficult game for the Pistons. They are the best team in the East right now and the Bucks have been one of the worst over the last 10 games. But, there is something about the Milwaukee Bucks that brings out the worst in the Pistons, so even in a game where both teams are heading in opposite directions, I would not chalk this one up as a win.
One good thing for the Pistons is that the Bucks are not nearly as good on defense as the Atlanta Hawks, so they can hopefully get their offense back on track after a brutal game offensively on Monday.
**Detroit Pistons (17-4):** Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren
**Milwaukee Bucks (9-13):** Kevin Porter Jr, Ryan Rollins, AJ Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Myles Turner
What are you doing to try to exercise the demons of the Milwaukee Bucks owning the Pistons?
See More:
* [Detroit Pistons Game Day](/detroit-pistons-game-day)
* [Pistons Previews](/pistons-game-previews)