Bucks @ Trail Blazers

Who will WIN this matchup?

Milwaukee Bucks (33-6)

@ Portland Trail Blazers (16-23)

Current odds:

Milwaukee Bucks: (-260)

Portland Trail Blazers: (+220)

• The line for this game is Bucks by 6.5 points.

• Giannis Antetokounmpo looks to bounce back from his lowest-scoring game of the season when the Milwaukee Bucks visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday. Antetokounmpo tallied just 13 points in Friday’s 127-106 victory over the host Sacramento Kings as teammates Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe led the way. Middleton recorded 27 points and 11 rebounds while Bledsoe scored 24 to pick up the slack and Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer enjoyed seeing the duo step up into co-starring roles. “It’s big-time. Those two guys were phenomenal,” Budenholzer told reporters after the win. “I think Giannis has a lot of faith and a lot confidence in his teammates but it is good for those guys to come through on a night like tonight.”

• Portland has dropped seven of its past nine games and lacked vigor during Thursday’s 116-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the finale of a five-game road trip. “Overall we were a little bit tired,” Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard told reporters. “It’s usually like that at the end of the trip, when you know you’re going home after the game, been on the road for a long time and we just didn’t have the kind of energy that we needed.”

• Budenholzer downplayed Antetokounmpo’s recent back soreness as a reason for his off-night but the end result is that Milwaukee set a franchise-record for its best 40-game start, one win better than the 1970-71 version led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bledsoe set the tone for Friday’s win by scoring 11 points in the first quarter and 17 in the half and Middleton cited that as the impetus for the club’s strong performance. “He played aggressive, which is what we need him to do,” Middleton said during a postgame television interview. “He is head of the snake for us so as long as he is playing well, it makes it a lot easier for the rest of us.”

• Portland shot just 36.5 percent in the loss to Minnesota as it outplayed the Timberwolves in the first quarter before being outscored 72-40 during the middle two stanzas. “That edge and that energy just wasn’t there,” Lillard told the media. “After a solid first quarter you think that you are going to carry it over to the second and we just didn’t. It just turned into a rough night and we just didn’t have it.” Lillard (20 points on 6-of-17 shooting), forward Carmelo Anthony (eight on 3-of-10) and guard Kent Bazemore (two, 0-of-8) were among the Trail Blazers who had rough shooting performances.

• The Bucks have won eight of the past 10 meetings, including a 137-129 home victory on Nov. 21.

• Milwaukee PF Ersan Ilyasova (knee) sat out against the Kings and may not be unavailable on Saturday as well.

• Portland C Hassan Whiteside (upper respiratory illness) is a game-time decision.