Milwaukee @ Chicago preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 28, 2018 ) Milwaukee 110, Chicago 96

The Milwaukee Bucks are slipping at the wrong time, and now they're without their best player. The Bucks will try to avoid a third straight loss without the help of Giannis Antetokounmpo when they visit the Chicago Bulls on Friday.

Milwaukee went into play on Thursday in eighth place in the East, five games up on ninth-place Detroit, but dropped nine of its last 13 after falling 127-120 to the Los Angeles Clippers. "We need to come out focused and aggressive from the jump," Bucks coach Joe Prunty told reporters. "That's about as important as anything is the mental approach to it. We need to come out and set a tone and we need to sustain it for 48 minutes." The Bulls seem like an easy mark for a playoff-bound team, even one missing its best player, after being trounced 135-102 at home by the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday. "These guys are getting an unbelievable opportunity right now, to come out and prove that they belong in this league, prove that they belong in the rotation, try to prove that they belong long term with the organization," Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters of his young team. "We're just obviously way too inconsistent with it."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), NBCS Chicago

ABOUT THE BUCKS (37-34): Antetokounmpo left in the first half of Wednesday's loss and is doubtful for Friday. "He's our main guy," shooting guard Khris Middleton told reporters of Antetokounmpo after the loss. "The attention he creates on the offensive end, we definitely missed that throughout the whole game when he was out. We're a team, so when he goes out we can't give up. We know what we can do as a team, and tonight we just didn't do it." Antetokounmpo leads the Bucks in scoring (27.3 points), rebounds (10) and blocks (1.8) while adding 4.8 assists.

ABOUT THE BULLS (24-47): Chicago is giving all the young players on its roster a bigger role but is missing its three biggest building blocks of the future with power forward Lauri Markkanen (back), point guard Kris Dunn (toe) and guard Zach LaVine (knee) out. "We're down a couple of guys, three big pieces to our ball club, guys who can put the ball in the hole, get stops on the other end, too," forward Bobby Portis told reporters. "...We're a young basketball team. We should go out each and every night, play as hard as we can, get up and down and play both ends of the floor." The Bulls allowed the Nuggets to shoot 61.4 percent from the floor in Wednesday's setback.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Bulls SG Antonio Blakeney will miss the rest of the season with a fractured wrist.

2. Bucks PF Jabari Parker recorded season highs of 20 points and 30 minutes on Wednesday.

3. The road team took the last six in the series, including Milwaukee earning a 110-96 win in its last trip to Chicago on Jan. 28.

PREDICTION: Bucks 122, Bulls 108