Milwaukee @ Utah preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 24, 2017 ) Utah 109, Milwaukee 95

Giannis Antetokounmpo took a break from carrying the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday and watched as other teammates stepped up to lead the team to a win. Antetokounmpo will try to get the same support when he hopefully returns to the court as the Bucks visit the Utah Jazz on Saturday.

Antetokounmpo, who leads Milwaukee in scoring (29.7 points), rebounding (10.3) and blocks (1.9) sat out the opener of the road trip on Wednesday in Phoenix to rest a sore knee and watched Khris Middleton go off for 40 points while Eric Bledsoe chipped in 30. "We needed it for us in the worst way," Middleton told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Everybody came in and just competed today. It was a tough game, we knew that coming in, and somehow we won." The Jazz sandwiched a bad loss around a pair of blowout wins in their last three games and began a three-game homestand with a 110-80 thrashing of the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday. The win improved Utah to 3-4 in seven games without center and defensive anchor Rudy Gobert, who is expected to be out another month with a knee injury.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah)

ABOUT THE BUCKS (9-8): Milwaukee averaged 83.5 points in a pair of losses before finding more scoring in the 113-107 overtime triumph over the Suns. Middleton did his best Antetokounmpo impression with 40 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists in the win and is averaging 26.3 points on 55.6 percent shooting over the last four games. Bledsoe's 30 points on Wednesday doubled his previous high since debuting with the Bucks on Nov. 10, and the Bucks are 5-2 since he joined the lineup.

ABOUT THE JAZZ (8-11): Power forward Derrick Favors is trying to pick up the slack for Gobert and delivered 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting and seven rebounds in Wednesday's win. Utah seems to go as Favors goes in Gobert's absence, and he is averaging 24 points in the three wins but just 9.8 points in four losses since the injury to his frontcourt partner. Also fighting through some inconsistency is rookie guard Donovan Mitchell, who slumped to four points on 1-of-10 shooting on Wednesday and is shooting 34.3 percent from the floor over his last five games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Bucks C Thon Maker recorded season highs of 16 points and eight rebounds on Wednesday.

2. Milwaukee PG Matthew Dellavedova (knee), PF John Henson (eye) and PG Gary Payton II (ankle) are all questionable for Saturday.

3. Utah took the last six in the series and won the two meetings last season by an average of 15 points.

PREDICTION: Bucks 106, Jazz 103