MILWAUKEE — The Utah Jazz embark on their longest road trip of the season this week, beginning Monday in Wisconsin against the Milwaukee Bucks with the first of five games away from home. The last time the two teams met on Nov. 8 in Salt Lake City, the Jazz pulled out a thrilling 103-100 victory on a buzzer-beating triple from forward Bojan Bogdanovic.
That night Utah held off the feisty Bucks, who came back from 20 points down at halftime to tie the game in the final seconds before the Croatian sharpshooter broke their hearts with a corner 3 as time expired. Mike Conley also had a hot hand in that game, scoring 19 first-half points for the Jazz.
While the memory of that win was sweet, Conley said beating Milwaukee on its home court will be a difficult challenge, especially knowing that league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo will be keen to avoid a repeat of the slow start he and the Bucks got off to in Utah.
“The last time we played I thought we just did a good job of making it tough on him getting to the paint where he really is one of the best in the league at creating opportunities for himself and his teammates,” Conley said Monday morning after the team’s shootaround at the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee. “Areas that we can improve on are just keeping them off the offensive glass and defensive glass. They’re a team that really crashes (the boards) and we’re going to need everybody’s help trying to get those loose balls and all those extra opportunities to have an extra possession.”
Conley added that for Utah to win, the Jazz will have to focus on meeting the intensity Milwaukee will bring in front of its home fans.
“We’ve got to worry about what we do and establish our game plan,” he said. “We understand that they’re going to be hungry. They’re a great team — one of the best teams in the league — so they’re going to come out and play their best game and we’ve got to be ready for them.”
The Bucks enter Monday’s game with a 13-3 record, tops in the Eastern Conference. At 11-5, Utah sits tied for fourth in the Western Conference. The Jazz have won seven of their last 10 ballgames, including three straight against Minnesota, Golden State and New Orleans.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee is in on a seven-game win streak, having won nine of its last 10 games — the single blemish in Utah earlier this month. All-World forward Antetokounmpo is averaging nearly 30 points and over eight rebounds per game this season playing under 33 minutes per contest — less than three quarters of a game.
Of note for Utah, center Rudy Gobert — who sat out Saturday’s game versus the Pelicans due to a sprained ankle — is still listed as questionable for tonight’s game.