4. LA Clippers at Milwaukee Bucks, Dec. 6
This is the other big inter-conference battle on Dec. 6, the second meeting between the new-look LA Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks won the first meeting in Los Angeles on Nov. 6, taking a 129-124 victory, but it wasn’t quite the revenge game Milwaukee fans may have been hoping for. After being eviscerated by Kawhi Leonard over the final four games of the Eastern Conference Finals last spring, the Bucks were hoping to get some revenge against Leonard’s new team, the Clippers.
Instead, Leonard sat out for load management on a sore left knee and Paul George had not yet been cleared to play as he was rehabilitating from two shoulder surgeries in the offseason.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning NBA MVP, dropped 38 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists on the night, while reserve George Hill was cooking with 24 points in just 24 minutes.
Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams, normally reserves for LA, both started and scored 34 points apiece, with Harrell adding 13 rebounds and Williams dishing 11 assists. But the Milwaukee bench outscored the Clippers reserves by a 47-20 margin to pace the Bucks to the win.
The teams split their two games last season, each winning at home, after the Clippers had swept the series in both 2015-16 and 2017-18, with Milwaukee getting a sweep in 2016-17.