Bucks to call on Middleton in Antetokounmpo’s absence

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The Milwaukee Bucks are heading into unfamiliar territory on Friday, as their superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss the I-94 rivalry game against Chicago with a right ankle sprain.

Luckily for Milwaukee, not all is lost.



The Bucks have won three straight games at the United Center over the Bulls, outscoring them by a lopsided average of 20 points in the process. Milwaukee is shooting 47.1 percent from downtown and 51.9 percent from the field in those games.

Antetokounmpo, who scores 17.8 points per game in 19 career contests against the Bulls, will miss his fifth game of the season -- and ninth overall since he became a full-time starter in 2014-15. Only two NBA players -- Houston’s James Harden and Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves -- have played more minutes than the Greek Freak since 2014 (10,683).

It’s up to Khris Middleton to rise in Antetokounmpo’s absence, something the 6-foot-8 forward has certainly done over the years.

In four games without the Greek Freak this season, Middleton is averaging 32.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He tallied his first career triple-double against the Philadelphia 76ers on Jan. 20 and led the Bucks to a 2-2 record this season (and 3-6 since 2014-15) without their two-time All-Star in the rotation.

NOTABLE

-- The Bulls allowed 102.4 points per game last year. That number has jumped to 109.9 per game in 2017-18, the NBA’s largest increase in opponent scoring from last season.

-- Milwaukee (37-34) currently sits in the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed, the final spot for postseason contention. The Detroit Pistons are 5 1/2 games back of the Bucks at 32-40.

-- Chicago might not have the star power it had last season now that Jimmy Butler plays for Minnesota, but the Bulls have depth. Chicago has 10 games this season where seven different Bulls scored in double figures, most recently in a 135-102 loss to Denver: Cristiano Felicio (16 points), Bobby Portis (15), Noah Vonleh (14), Cameron Payne (11), David Nwaba (11), Denzel Valentine (10) and Jerian Grant (10).

Statistics courtesy STATS