The idea of spending the Christmas holiday in New York has served as the main plot of countless movies.
But all the Milwaukee Bucks want out of the trip to the Big Apple is two wins.
A two-game series between a pair of Eastern Conference contenders is slated to begin Saturday afternoon when the Bucks visit the Knicks.
The teams also are scheduled to start the NBA’s five-game Christmas Day slate by meeting in New York at noon ET.
The Bucks concluded a perfect six-game homestand Thursday by edging the Orlando Magic, 118-114. The Knicks ended a five-game road trip Wednesday by defeating the Brooklyn Nets 121-102 for their second straight win.
The six-game winning streak is a season high for the Bucks, who entered the homestand off a 128-119 upset loss to the Indiana Pacers in the semifinals of the NBA’s in-season tournament. The win streak also represented a business-like approach Milwaukee hopes to emulate in New York.
Of the six teams the Bucks beat at home, only one — the Chicago Bulls — enters Friday amongst the top six in its conference. Milwaukee scored at least 128 points in each of its first five wins before relying on its defense to edge the Magic.
The 118 points the Bucks scored Thursday were their fewest since edging the Portland Trail Blazers 108-102 on Nov 26.
“Just finding different ways to win every night,” Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said. “Sometimes we’re putting up 120, 130 points. Tonight, it was a little slower pace. We had to grind it out. Defensively, we had to get stops when it mattered the most.”
The Bucks will be accompanied by their families on the trip, which will include games against the Nets on Wednesday and versus the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday.
“In my experience in the NBA, it’s hard to spend those times with your loved ones,” Griffin said. “We’re able to do that and have our families with us. Saying that, it’s also a business trip. But this is a veteran group, and they know what’s at stake. They know how to get themselves ready.”
The Knicks displayed similar traits in finishing a challenging cross-country road trip at 3-2. New York learned during the trek that starting center Mitchell Robinson will likely miss the rest of the season due to a left ankle injury.
The Knicks lost two of their first three games on the trip, including a 142-122 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers last Saturday, fewer than 24 hours after Jalen Brunson scored 50 points in a 139-122 win over the Phoenix Suns.
New York bounced back by edging the Los Angeles Lakers 114-109 on Monday before knocking off the Nets to earn its first set of back-to-back wins since a three-game winning streak from Nov. 28 through Dec. 1.
“Every game you can find a reason, right, to use an excuse — and we don’t want to do that,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Whether it’s an injury, long road trip, a back-to-back, in-season tournament, whatever it is. Just be ready to go. When they tell us the ball’s going up at this time, we’re ready.”
–Field Level Media