Bucks vs Magic Game Preview
The 46-18 Milwaukee Bucks take on the 27-38 Orlando Magic Tuesday night in Orlando at the Amway Center. The Bucks had a nice team win vs the Wizards Sunday night 117-111. That win came on the heels of a tough home loss to the Sixers Saturday Night, 133-130. There are 18 games remaining in the NBA regular season.
All in all Milwaukee remains the number one seed. And they are continuing to sharpen their game, getting rotations and minutes in order before the big playoff push. But this does make for a somewhat erratic set of games. Up next is Brooklyn at home on Thursday, followed by a short Western Road Trip that begins with a Nationally televised game on ABC Saturday Night vs Golden State.
This is the last time Orlando and Milwaukee will play this season.
For Orlando, Paolo Banchero has truly established himself as the face of the franchise. He leads the team in the three major categories: points, rebounds and assists. (20/6/3)
Bucks keys
Keep the Magic below 118 points scored
In the recent loss to the Sixers, the Bucks gave up 133 points. Their defense gave up some shots in the 4th quarter. Plus it did not help the Bucks cause that James Harden scored 38 points and Joel Embiid scored 31.
In the win against Washington the Bucks only gave up 111 points. And they held Bradley Beal to 33 (less than Harden’s 38) and Porzingis to 24 (less than Embiid’s 31). They just seemed to better handle the other team’s star.
Against the Wizards in the 4th, the Bucks only allowed 31 points. Against the Sixers, they allowed 48 points in the 4th! Keeping the opponent’s score down makes sense in trying to win the game.
Score 118 Points
Trying to score more points than your opponent makes sense too. In the Bucks 16 game winning streak, they scored over 118 points 12 times.
In this space we have obsessed a little bit with that 118 number. With the playoffs only 18 games away, it seems like it is time to turn scoring over 118 points into a habit.
Keep shooting the three
The Bucks average 40 three point attempts a game. (Orlando averages 30 per game) The Bucks and their offense is built around Giannis driving the ball and kicking it out to a shooter. It is working so far so keep shooting the three.
Orlando has some issues here. Their team’s three-point shooting percentage isn’t strong either (23rd in the NBA). So, the big takeaway here is that Orlando doesn’t shoot or make many threes.
The Bucks do. (36.5% and 40.4 attempts)
The Opponent: The Orlando Magic
The Magic played ok in a 139-117 loss to the Bucks a week ago. Orlando simply got smoked in the second quarter and couldn’t climb back into the game. But the game was closer than the score.
Paolo Banchero averages 20 points a game. In that game he scored 9. He has not shot the three well this year. (27%)
Franz Wagner is second on the team in scoring (18 points a game). Against the Bucks a week ago he also had 18.
Markelle Fultz is really turning his season around. Against the Bucks a week ago in Milwaukee he had 21 points. He was the number one overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft.
Wendell Carter Jr. is a good player. Averaging 15/8/2, he continues to improve.
Cole Anthony is good but streaky. Against Milwaukee he just snapped and scored 28. In a win against Minnesota he had 20 points and he was 6/8 from the field and was perfect from the line.
Bol Bol had two points against the Bucks. He has been playing better of late. However in a recent win against Detroit he was perfect in his poor play. 0 points on 0-6 shooting, 0-3 from three and barely managed two rebounds in 16 minutes of play.
Takes us back to the Tony Snell days.
I swear i bet on Tobias Harris and he turns into Tony Snell pic.twitter.com/X8KhoyEQga
— Max Paquet (@squeezesports1) February 28, 2023
Things to tell your friends as you are watching the game
Giannis Pastoral: Wisconsin’s Greatest Athlete is here, right in front of you
- Oh Giannis! Even if you lose, you win. His post-game interviews have been bland, boring, and stoic. That is all so, so very different from the Ja Morant drama in Memphis.
- Giannis has put up some great numbers. He is averaging 31.2 point per game, 11.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists.
- Milwaukee is in the top ten in the NBA in field goals attempts per game. (90.4)
- Could Bobby Portis be a serious candidate for 6th man of the year? Now that Russell Westbrook is starting for the Clippers you’d have to think so.
Follow me on Twitter at @authorrudylb and check out my other writings at www.rudylb.com. Follow us at @WiSportsHeroics! For all things Wisconsin sports, click here! Also, check out our merch store for some amazing WSH merchandise!
