Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr. was inserted into the starting lineup on Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic because of injuries to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton. Malik Beasley also went back into the starting lineup for Milwaukee against Orlando. Even with that, the Bucks won easily over the Magic by a final score of 117-99.
In this matchup, Portis Jr. scored 30 points and he shot 77.8% from the field. He has stepped up time and time again this season for the Bucks. Bobby Portis Jr. could be the lead candidate to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, but he had to start in this one and may have to start in more games down the road.
To go along with his scoring performance, he also grabbed nine rebounds, recorded three assists, and recorded five steals. With this win for Milwaukee, they improve to 49-31 on the season and will have just two games remaining in the NBA regular season.
The Bucks will need to win one more game to officially be the number two seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. With the loss for the Orlando Magic, they drop to 46-34 on the year and Orlando is currently the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Four Other Players Score In Double Figures For the Milwaukee Bucks and Bobby Portis Jr. Against the Orlando Magic
The Bucks had four other players score in double figures on Wednesday night against the Magic. Damian Lillard was the second-leading scorer in this matchup with 29 points. He also grabbed six rebounds and recorded nine assists. Lillard continues to score the basketball and get his teammates involved in the action.
He spoke to Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by saying:
“I think it’s a builder for us. It gives us even more confidence to know that we can kind of deal with a storm like we dealt with leading up to these two games and then come out of it and not just win ’em, but win ’em even with guys down and be able to come together and get it done. I think moving forward, it just shows the layers to our team. It’s not just who we have here physically, but mentally what we’re able to do.”
Patrick Beverley made his second consecutive start for Milwaukee and he scored 13 points. They have won the last two games ever since Beverley has been inserted into the starting lineup.
Jae Crowder scored 14 points off the bench for the Milwaukee Bucks and Brook Lopez also added 10 points for Milwaukee. It was a good thing that Bobby Portis Jr. stepped up against a young and vulnerable Orlando Magic basketball team. This was a huge game for both teams and it was a good sign that Milwaukee was able to win easily for the second consecutive night even without two of its top three players on the roster.
