MILWAUKEE -- Bucks center Larry Sanders is missing his second consecutive game Saturday with a bruised lower back suffered in Tuesday's loss in Denver.
Milwaukee will also be without reserve forward Marquis Daniels against the Pistons, as he's away from the team tending to a family matter. Daniels missed Tuesday's game for the same reason but returned Wednesday and started in place of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
Mbah a Moute's surgically repaired knee flared up causing him to miss Wednesday's loss to Utah, but he is returning to the starting lineup against Detroit. Sanders – the NBA's leader in blocked shots – was injured while trying to draw a charge on Denver's Kenneth Faried with 4:41 left in the Bucks 112-104 loss.
He'll continue to be evaluated on a day-to-day basis, and Bucks coach Jim Boylan said there's still hope Sanders will play in one of Milwaukee's two games prior to the All-Star break.
"We're just going to have to be patient and see how he feels each day," Boylan said Saturday. "He bruised his back pretty good, and he's a little tender right now. He's not able to push off on it the way he would like to. We don't want him out there if he's going to be playing injured like that."
The Pistons will also be without a big man as rookie forward Andre Drummond is expected to miss four to six weeks after suffering a stress fracture in his back on Feb. 6.
Averaging 7.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, Drummond scored 18 points and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds against the Bucks on Jan. 29.
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