Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks took down the short-handed Magic in Orlando on Monday night. Displaying a balanced scoring attack, Giannis, Middleton and Portis all scored 20 or more for Milwaukee. The win improves the Bucks record to 7-4 while the Magic drop to 6-5 for the season. Let me break down how it all transpired!
Sloppy Start for the Bucks
While the first few plays of the game went smooth for Milwaukee, the majority of the quarter was far from clean. Khris Middleton looked out of rhythm in more ways than one offensively. Missing open shots he usually makes and turning it over a few times in the process. It was reminiscent of his poor series against Orlando in the bubble last year.
Meanwhile, Nicola Vucevic scored 10 of the Magic’s first 12 points and seemed to be getting whatever he wanted early on. After a back and forth period, the Bucks found themselves up 25-23 after the first quarter.
Sharing is Caring
The second quarter was highlighted by balanced scoring and great passing for Milwaukee. Donte Divincenzo, Bryn Forbes, Jrue Holiday and Bobby Portis all had a very good quarter offensively. When the game got close Jrue came through with a great stretch in which he scored seven consecutive points for the Bucks and assisted the following play as well. His second quarter included a beautiful pass in transition to Giannis in traffic that covered approximately 3/4ths the court! It was definitely one of the highlights of the night.
After a couple rough outings in the past it was nice to see Forbes break through. He had nine points at half including shooting 2/2 on three pointers. However the biggest contributor off the bench though was Portis, who scored 11 points in the first half on 5/6 shooting! With Giannis coming back from injury and Middleton looking shaky, the Bucks really needed the bench to deliver and they did.
At halftime, Milwaukee led the Orlando 63-54.
Pesky Magic Keep it Close
Despite missing Fournier, Fultz, MCW, Aminu, Jonathan Isaac and Chuma Okeke, Orlando held their own for most of this game. Aided by hot three point shooting (a theme of the Bucks’ defense this year) they kept the game close. At one point the Magic were 9/19 from behind the arc.
Luckily Giannis was able to stave off the Magic with eight points of his own in the period. Muscling in a couple layups and draining a three along the way.
Heading into the fourth quarter the Bucks led by a mere 4 points, 86-82.
The Bucks Take Charge
After three quarters of a back and forth game, Milwaukee put an end to it. They scored 35 points while only giving up 17 in the final quarter. It seemed a lid came off of the Bucks’ basket and it gave them much more energy on the defensive end as well. Like a landslide the Bucks seemed to put the game out of reach before Orlando knew what happened.
Middleton’s shots started to fall again and the rest of the offense opened up. Orlando cut the deficit to two points before the Bucks rolled off a 15-2 run. What was an 86-88 game turned into 112-90 very quickly as Milwaukee got hot from three and Orlando went cold. All of this despite Giannis getting his fifth foul with 10 minutes left in the game.
Additional Notes
Giannis finished the night with a game high 22 points on 8/16 from the field and made 2/4 from three! Playing only 27 minutes due to foul trouble, his presence was felt most of the night. He didn’t appear to be quite back to 100% physically after missing the Cavs game with back spasms but he was still the best player on the court.
Bryn Forbes dropped 14 points tonight on an efficient 4/7 on field goals. Something the Bucks are going to need from him going forward off the bench. When he’s not forcing it, his shot is very smooth.
Bobby Portis scored a season high 20 points on an ultra-efficient 9/13 shooting, including 2/3 from three! Milwaukee will be very tough to beat come playoff time if the bench can provide scoring anywhere near the amount they did tonight. The reserves provided 53 of the Buck’s 121 points, Orlando’s bench scored just 24.
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