Bucks

Luka Doncic just misses a triple-double and sparks a fourth-quarter surge that carries Dallas to a 118-112 win. Associated Press.

Coupled with the Lakers’ loss to Denver, San Antonio’s magic number for clinching 10th place in the Western Conference is two games. Denver moved a half-game ahead of Utah for fifth place, getting further insurance against being forced into the play-in tournament. Playing without scoring leader Devin Booker, Phoenix hit just 7 of 38 (18.4%) beyond the arc. Toronto is 2 1/2 games ahead of seventh-place Cleveland in the battle to avoid the play-in round. In six career games against the Bucks, Doncic has averaged 26.8 points, 11.3 assists and 9.2 rebounds with three triple-doubles. Embiid was questionable going into the game because of a sore ankle.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is listed as probable for Sunday's game between the Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks.

* CAN KRISTAPS STILL BE AN ALL-STAR? Ben Stinar and Haley Jordan sat down to talk about Washington Wizards star Kristaps Porzingis in a recent episode of Stinar For 3. Especially on a team that is contending for an NBA Championship. He has played for the Charlotte Hornets, Boston Celtics and Knicks over his 11-year NBA career. * KEMBA WALKER CAN STILL HELP A CONTENDING TEAM: Kemba Walker's tenure with the New York Knicks appears to have ended.

The Dallas Mavericks are on the road again Sunday and play against the Milwaukee Bucks at 1 p.m. ET April 3 at Fiserv Forum. Both teams were wiped off the court ...

With both teams hitting sour notes in their previous games, they will no doubt be looking to produce a better outcome in this one. Dallas was pulverized by the Washington Wizards 135-103 this past Friday. The Mavericks didn't live up to their potential and found themselves falling short of the 7.5-point advantage oddsmakers thought they had coming into the game. center Bobby Portis, who had 25 points in addition to eight rebounds, was the best among equals.

Luka Doncic poured in 32 points and dished out 15 assists. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 in defeat. The win puts the Mavericks a step closer to clinching home ...

But two things still conspired against the Bucks. The Mavericks a couple of key 3-pointers from the corners, and the Bucks went only 3-9 on 3-pointers and 4-11 in the paint. The Mavericks only took 16 shots at the rim, and only five in the second half. That shooting continued in the third quarter, when the Mavericks went 4-10 from deep, still above league average. The inconsistent Mavericks defense continued in the first quarter, allowing the Bucks to score 33 points on 8-16 shooting from deep. But the Bucks surged back, going on a 14-0 run late in the quarter to take the lead. The win puts the Mavericks a step closer to clinching home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, as well as serving as a statement against a title contender in the Bucks.

The Milwaukee Bucks kept it close with the Dallas Mavericks almost from wire-to-wire, but surprisingly failed execution down the stretch ultimately doomed ...

Milwaukee had plenty of chances to try and take the lead or come back against Dallas, but their short midrange shots just kept rimming out, alongside a just 3-14 performance from Khris Middleton, and they couldn’t find a way to pull another buck out of their hat. The Bucks have been about average in terms of holding opponents corner three attempts down, but they were getting beat routinely in this contest. That 3-point luck quickly disappeared in the second quarter, with Dallas killing the Bucks at the rim and having a few of their own deep shots rattle in to take a 57-55 lead at halftime.

The Bucks had all their stars back in the rotation but Khris Middleton suffered a cold-shooting afternoon.

The issue revolves around George Hill, who is having his worst NBA season to date, continuing to receive significant playing time over Jevon Carter, who has ...

Given that Carter was coming off his best game of the season, an 18-point, eight assist effort in a tough loss to the Clippers, seeing him benched in this one was beyond puzzling. Across 18 minutes of action, Hill went scoreless after having missed all three of his shot attempts while tallying a turnover and three personal fouls. It is no secret that the Bucks have oftentimes struggled in these early afternoon games, and that trend unfortunately carried on yesterday.

The Bucks suffered a crucial defeat against the Mavs. But the bigger scare was when Giannis Antetokounmpo was seen wincing in pain.

But my hand’s not going to stop me from competing and enjoying the game,” the Bucks star continued. The Bucks star tried to power right over Mavs center Dwight Powell for an inside finish and took a hard swipe to the hand. But the bigger scare was when two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was seen wincing in pain while clutching at his right hand.

It was a position of much concern earlier this season. But now that Brook Lopez is back, center is a position of strength for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Since Lopez went back into the starting lineup, Milwaukee has only played Portis as the lone big for 26 total minutes (excluding the game where everyone sat, of course). We saw a more even minutes distribution against the Dallas Mavericks with Portis leading at 23 minutes to Lopez’s 22. It was clear that they wanted a more mobile big and be able to switch or hedge as much as possible in that game. On the broadcast of the game against the Dallas Mavericks, they said that Lopez’s minutes restriction is gone, and can play over 30 minutes if needed. He was dominant inside the arc and that must have given him some renewed confidence for the next game as he went 3-of-6 from deep yesterday, the first game with multiple 3s since March 9th! Although he missed all four of his 3s against the Clippers, he went 12-of-16 inside and got whatever he wanted.

The NBA playoffs are just around the corner and the Eastern Conference has been extremely contentious. Many players are stepping up while some are ...

As the season winds down, pay attention to Pat as he looks to finish the season strong. Connaughton was once again a large contributor in the regular season until an injury to his shooting hand occurred against the Phoenix Suns. After returning to game action, Connaughton was shooting well as he notched 15 points against the Timberwolves and 14 points against the Bulls. However, in recent games, Connaughton has taken a slight step back.

Giannis Antetokounmpo/??? Brook Lopez/Bobby Portis. That's nine guys, and would see the likes of Serge Ibaka and Jevon Carter drop into DNP-CD territory unless ...

All I can do is play the math and say we’re going to lose all four games. Isaiah Stewart has a very particular build: Big, jacked, but with what looks like (to me) a compact torso so the dimensions are all wrong. Did Jevon Carter and Serge Ibaka simply fall off the face of the Earth? Can Bobby Portis find a new rhythm in a different place in the rotation? All signs point to his having secured a starting role heading into our title defense, so here’s hoping he can make good on the chance. When they inevitably pay LaVine a max contract, their one true trade chip will be a quickly-aging Nikola Vucevic. Good luck to them with that. One thing that was driven home playing against the Sixers and Nets: They’re teams that fall into very narrow vision when it matters. Second time’s the charm and all that. Now the Bucks are finding themselves in the weird double bind of having a ton of guys worth playing, being fully-healthy for the first time all year, and needing to figure out a pecking order ASAP. Will moving Wes Matthews into a starting role smooth out quickly? Conceptually, you get what Bud is trying to do with Wes: Replicate some of the point-of-attack physical defense PJ Tucker brought a year ago with some more offensive upside. Down to the wire indeed! Ultimately, moving the deck chairs around will matter very little if Khris Middleton continues to play poorly, or the Big Three in general don’t take it upon themselves to do the heavy lifting on both ends. To me, if Grayson isn’t good enough to hold onto a starter spot, I wonder if he’s much for a playoff rotation either.