Pelicans @ Bucks

What will be the GAME RESULT?

Bucks: Win By 15+ Points

Any Other Result

Current odds:

New Orleans Pelicans: (+400)

Milwaukee Bucks: (-500)

• The line for this game is Bucks by 10 points.

• The Milwaukee Bucks are one win away from matching the franchise record of 16 straight and aren’t showing any signs of letting up. The Bucks will try to power their way to another victory when they host the struggling New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday. Milwaukee, which set the franchise record with 16 consecutive wins spread over two seasons in 1973, is tied for the best record in the NBA entering play on Tuesday and turned in another stellar defensive effort in Monday’s 110-101 triumph over the Orlando Magic. “My rookie year we won 15 games. Now we won 15 in a row,” Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo told reporters. “We can still extend it. But at the end of the day, the job’s not done. We got to keep playing hard. We got to keep playing together. We got to keep moving individually. Keep improving as a team. We got a long way to go.”

• The Pelicans are on the other end of the spectrum and suffered their ninth straight loss when Derrick Rose knocked down a last-second shot in a 105-103 setback at home against Detroit. “I don’t know if it’s getting worse but there’s no moral victories, so we don’t have anything tangible that we can hang our hat on,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters. “Just playing close – that would be great if we were in a horseshoe contest, but we’re not. We can’t play close. We have to find a way to make enough plays to win the game and we haven’t done that. It’s getting to be a very frustrating thing for us.”

• New Orleans last won on Nov. 21 but is trying not to let the lengthy slide get the team down. “Honestly, I feel like this is basketball and you go through it,” Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday told reporters. “If it’s on a personal level or on a team level, you have to withstand it and try to push through it either way. It’s about the same thing, really. I think as a group we are very positive and even tonight everyone is encouraged, and we did a lot of great things, so we have to keep sticking to that.” Holiday is doing his part to pull his team through while averaging 21.1 points during the slide and forward Brandon Ingram scored 31 in Monday’s setback.

• Milwaukee won its previous four games by an average of 34.3 points before fighting through a defensive battle and holding Orlando to 38 percent from the floor on Monday. “It’s good to play close games,” Antetokounmpo told reporters. “You learn from that. You get used to being in close games and not always winning by 20, by 30. We still got the win. We grinded it out. We played defense. But I think the two days in between made us a little rusty.” Antetokounmpo didn’t show much rust while collecting 32 points on 12-of-22 shooting, 15 rebounds and eight assists in the victory.

• Bucks C Brook Lopez scored in single digits in each of his last four games and is 10-of-30 from the floor in that span.

• Pelicans SG JJ Redick managed three points on 1-of-10 shooting on Monday.

• Milwaukee took the two meetings last season by an average of 12.5 points.