PREVIEW: Warriors (46-12) Finally Back Home To Face Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks (32-28)

Milwaukee Bucks (32-28) at Golden State Warriors (46-11)

Tip-off: Wednesday, March 4th, 2015 – 7:30PM PDT

Location: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA

TV: CSN Bay Area | Radio: KNBR 680 AM

Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors #LetsGoWarriorsLive

Projected Starting Lineups:

Warriors

PG: Stephen Curry (23.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 7.8 APG)

SG: Klay Thompson (21.8 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.0 APG)

SF: Harrison Barnes (10.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.4 APG)

PF: Draymond Green (11.1 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 3.6 APG)

C: Andrew Bogut (6.4 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 2.7 APG)

Head Coach: Steve Kerr (46-12, .793)

Bucks

PG: Michael Carter-Williams (10.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 5.0 APG)

SG: Khris Middleton (12.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.1 APG)

SF: Giannis Antetokounmpo (12.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 2.5 APG)

PF: Ersan Ilyasova (9.6 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 0.8 APG)

C: Zaza Pachulia (7.4 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 2.2 APG)

Head Coach: Jason Kidd (76-66, .545)

Last Times Out

LAST WARRIORS GAME: On 3/2/2015, Brooklyn defeated Golden State, 110-108. Curry scored 26 points, 18 in the 4th quarter, but couldn’t get a game-tying attempt off before the buzzer.

LAST BUCKS GAME: On 3/3/2015, the Nuggets defeated the Bucks, 106-95, in Denver.

LAST WARRIORS-BUCKS MATCHUP (AT ORACLE): On 3/20/2014, the Warriors defeated the Bucks, 115-110, in Oakland. #SplashBrothers combined for 60 points.

Game Notes

• ‘Warriors guard Leandro Barbosa (viral upper respiratory infection) is available to play, according to the team.” — Rusty Simmons, San Francisco Chronicle

• “Golden State opens its home-heavy run against winning clubs Milwaukee, Dallas and the Los Angeles Clippers, though the Bucks (32-28) are struggling with five losses in their last six games. They’re also looking to halt their longest road losing streak of the season after dropping the first three on their four-game trip.
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  Milwaukee, sixth in the East, also fell to 3-8 on the road versus West opponents in Tuesday’s 106-95 loss at Denver.
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  Khris Middleton finished with 20 points, while Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 19 to go along with 11 rebounds.
  The Bucks are scuffling offensively with just 87.3 points per game over their past five as they adjust with Michael Carter-Williams now running the point, but they’ve only allowed 91.7 – fourth in the league – since the All-Star break.
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  ‘For a young team this is a good learning experience going into March where everything is heightened,’ coach Jason Kidd said.” — Taylor Bechtold, AP/STATS

• “Warriors center Andrew Bogut spent the first six-and-a-half seasons of his career with Milwaukee (2005-12) after being selected by the Bucks with the first overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft… Bogut averaged 12.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.57 blocks over 408 career games with the club before being sent to Golden State on March 13, 2012 along with Stephen Jackson in exchange for Monta Ellis and Ekpe Udoh.” — Warriors PR

• “Bucks Head Coach Jason Kidd is a native of San Francisco and attended high school at Saint Joseph of Notre Dame in Alameda
  before playing collegiately at the University of California-Berkeley.” — Warriors PR

• “Warriors forward Harrison Barnes and Bucks forward John Henson were college teammates at North Carolina.” — Warriors PR

• “Since being inserted into the starting lineup five games ago, Ersan Ilyasova has averaged 15.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.” — Bucks PR

• “Khris Middleton is in the midst of a career-long streak of 13 games with double-digit scoring, averaging 16.8 points over that span. He has shot at or better than 50 percent in eight of those games with a total field goal percentage of 46.9, and he has a free throw percentage of 94.6.” — Bucks PR

• “According to ESPN.com, Middleton ranks 6th in the NBA this season for real plus-minus with a total of 5.93. Only Stephen Curry (8.55), James Harden (7.83), Russell Westbrook (7.27), LeBron James (6.89) and Anthony Davis (6.49) rank higher.” — Bucks PR

• “Michael Carter-Williams scored 16 points on Saturday night in Utah, which was his highest scoring game as a Buck. In his four games thus far with Milwaukee, he has averaged 10.5 points on 50 percent shooting (16-for-32), 2.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists.” — Bucks PR