Milwaukee @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 21, 2017 ) Portland 110, Milwaukee 113

The Milwaukee Bucks are still trying to find consistency at both ends of the floor but put together one of their best performances in a 112-87 win at Sacramento on Tuesday. The Bucks will try to clinch a winning four-game road trip when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers in the finale on Thursday.

Milwaukee needed overtime to escape the Phoenix Suns to begin the trip and stumbled through a 121-108 loss at Utah on Saturday before putting it all together in the drubbing of the Kings. "I thought the guys were really professional, took care of business, came out and executed the game plan, but there was carryover (from practices and shootaround)," Bucks coach Jason Kidd told reporters. The Trail Blazers are a model of consistency of late and are winners of seven of their last nine after taking the final three stops of a five-game road trip. "Five games, whenever you can win four of them, I think it's a quality road trip," Portland shooting guard CJ McCollum told reporters. "Obviously, we'd like to get that Sixers (a 101-81 loss) game back. But overall, if you would have said he would go and win four games I would have told you 'I'll take it.'"

TV: 10 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), NBCSN Northwest (Portland)

ABOUT THE BUCKS (10-9): Finding an offense that doesn't involve four people standing around while Giannis Antetokounmpo tries to make a play has been a goal for Milwaukee all season, and Tuesday seemed to mark a turning point. The Bucks handed out 27 assists on 42 made field goals and shot 59.2 percent from the floor in the win. "We've been wanting to play like this for a while, just moving the ball side to side and getting the best shot not caring who scores or shoots it," Bucks swingman Khris Middleton told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "We've had games like this but we're not consistent. (Tuesday) was one of the nights where we played the right way and it shows that it works."

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (13-8): Portland moved swingman Pat Connaughton into the starting lineup at Brooklyn on Friday and watched him go 13-of-18 from the floor in three games as a starter -- all wins. The Notre Dame product scored 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting in Monday's win at the New York Knicks -- his highest total since going off for 24 points in the season opener. "This is who (Connaughton) is," point guard Damian Lillard told the team's website. "He's going to go out there, he's going to take the right shots, you know he's going to be in the right spots defensively, he's going to be a great teammate. He's going to do what the team needs him to do. We've got a lot of confidence in him, from our coaches to everybody on our team. We just know what we're going to get from him and I think the more time he's out there, the more you guys are going to see how capable he is."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Bucks PG Eric Bledsoe is averaging 23 points over his last three games to raise his season mark to 15.8.

2. Portland PF Noah Vonleh averaged 11.6 rebounds on the road trip.

3. Milwaukee took the last three in the series, including a 113-110 home win on Oct. 21 behind 44 points from Antetokounmpo.

PREDICTION: Trail Blazers 106, Bucks 98