Game Day: Knicks @ Bucks, 3/27/21
The Knicks are attempting to reach two games over .500 for the first time in a while. Can they upset the Bucks, winners of eight of their last nine games?
Has your heart calmed down from that RJ Barrett-led comeback against the Wizards the other night? Mine either. But here we are, another game on deck!
Let me tell you what, the Knicks can’t come out against the Bucks the same way they came out against the Wizards. If you poop the bed for three quarters against the Bucks, you’re not gonna get a chance to clean yourself up in the fourth. You’re just gonna have to live with the filth that you created and live to try again another day.
The Bucks are pretty damn hot coming into this game, too. They had an eight-game win streak interrupted by a 122-114 loss to the Celtics just last night, so perhaps the Knicks can catch Milwaukee reeling on the second night of a back-to-back. Or, just as likely, the Knicks could catch an angry herd of deer ready to gore the hell out of them and draw some Atlantic Division blood in retribution for last night.
Whatever happens, chances are it’ll be a blowout one way or the other. That seems to be the only gear that these two teams have when they play one another. Usually it’s the Bucks doing the blowing out, but this season it’s tied 1-1: the Knicks smushed the Bucks, 130-110, back in the third game of the season, while the Bucks walloped the Knicks, 131-104, just over two weeks ago in the first game back from the All-Star break.
No new news in the way of injuries as far as the Knicks are concerned, so have to assume they’ll probably just roll with same five if Reggie Bullock isn’t able to go again. Elfrid Payton seems here to stay, so that’s a bummer. Maybe someday we’ll get a look at this same starting lineup, but minus Payton and plus Immanuel Quickley. Or even Derrick Rose, I’d take that.
The Bucks are pretty much at full strength, so no surprises as to what you’re getting out of them. They’re going to wall off the paint and make it really hard for Julius Randle and RJ Barrett to present a credible threat there. That means the Knicks are going to need to cash in from deep tonight, which was the key to their big win over the Bucks way back in the beginning of the season (and part of what sunk them last time around, on top of just looking lazy after the All-Star break).
Can the Knicks get to the elusive two games over .500? We’ll see tonight. It’s been the latest in a line of difficult milestones for them to overcome, but as we’ve seen with “getting to .500,” “getting a game over .500,” and “staying consistently .500 or better,” when these Knicks put their minds to something, they have a way of accomplishing it.
The game’s at 8 PM on MSG. Feel free to comment along here, or hang with us on Twitter!
