Kon Knueppel's return to Milwaukee looms large in Hornets-Bucks

Kon Knueppel looks for another strong performance in his hometown as his Charlotte Hornets visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.

The Milwaukee native and rookie of the year contender had one of his best games back on Nov. 14. He put up 32 points and three each of steals, rebounds and assists in a 147-134 loss in overtime for Charlotte in NBA Cup play.

Knueppel was not available when these teams squared off on Monday in Charlotte and the Bucks won 123-113. It was his first missed game of his basketball career, including high school and his one year at Duke.

Bobby Portis led Milwaukee with 25 while Giannis Antetokounmpo, on a 25-minute restriction, had 24. Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball kept Charlotte in it until the end with 31 and 26 points, respectively.

That win was the first time Milwaukee had won two in a row since late October. They had a grand opportunity for their first three-game streak of the season, but allowed Washington to steal a 114-113 victory on New Year's Eve in the final seconds.

"I don't care about the end of the game, we deserved to lose the game," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. "We didn't play hard, we didn't play well enough together."

Antetokounmpo had a shot blocked that led to a go-ahead jumper from CJ McCollum with a second to play. Antetokounmpo then missed a fadeaway jumper that would have won the game.

"The more you make them believe, the more they stay in the game. This is on us," Antetokounmpo said. "Just gotta do a better job, trust one another. It's gotta be a team effort, win or lose, we gotta do it together."

Charlotte meanwhile stayed home on New Year's Eve to host Steph Curry and the Warriors and fell in a tight one, 132-125.

Miller kept the hot hand going as he led Charlotte with 33. LaMelo Ball had 27 while Knueppel, who returned from his ankle injury, had 20 with eight assists.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr left the game impressed with the rookie's game, comparing him to a Warriors great in Chris Mullin.

"Really good size on the wing, big strong body, catch-and-shoot, but also incredible IQ," he described. "He's already a really damn good player, he's got a feel for the game and the poise that he has on the floor is really impressive."

On Wednesday, Knueppel passed Curry's rookie NBA record for the most games with 20-plus points and a 50/40/90 slash line.

Ball leads the Hornets by percentage points in scoring with an even 20 points per game along with 8.4 assists per game. Miles Bridges (19.9), Knueppel (19.3) and Miller (18.8) are all right behind in scoring.

On the injury front, Bridges (ankle) missed Wednesday's game and is listed as probable. Ryan Kalkbrenner (elbow) is listed as out and Mason Plumlee (groin) had successful surgery and will be out at least six weeks.

Milwaukee's injury report is clean with Antetokounmpo back other than Taurean Prince, who the Bucks applied for a Disabled Player Exception for earlier in December.

With a win, Milwaukee would clinch the season series against Charlotte three games to one. Milwaukee has won 11 of the last 14 matchups between the Eastern Conference rivals.

--Field Level Media