Orlando’s defense can keep them in any game. That was the case Tuesday night, when the Magic forced seven first-quarter Bucks turnovers and, throughout the night, seemed to contest everything. Orlando led much of the evening and when the Bucks led it never got above 10 points.
But in the clutch, Milwaukee had Damian Lillard.
A 37-point night from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lillard’s late-game heroics were enough, the Bucks beat the Magic 114-109 to advance to Las Vegas and the semi-finals of the NBA Cup.
Milwaukee will face the winner of Wednesday’s Atlanta vs. New York game in Vegas on Saturday. (The Magic will face the loser of that game in a regular season matchup to get to 82 games for the season.)
While it was Lillard late, it was Antetokounmpo looking every bit the MVP candidate most of the night, making plays on both ends on his way to 37 points on 15-of-24 shooting.
This was a relatively old-school game with teams trying to get to the rim. There were just 21 3-point attempts between the teams in the first half (tied for the fewest total in a half this season). Neither team topped 30 3-point attempts for the game, well below the league average.
The Orlando defense was what you expected in the first quarter, forcing seven turnovers and holding the Bucks to 25 points (11 of those from Antetokounmpo). What was a surprise was their offense stepping up scoring 33 points. With his brother Franz out, Mo Wagner was first off the bench and his first six shots on the way to an eight-point first-quarter lead.
Everyone was stepping up for Orlando — Goga Bitadze even put Antetokounmpo in a poster.
Then came the second quarter and the Bucks started taking care of the ball and the game changed — Bobby Portis started 7-of-7 from the floor to change the game, and a Lillard layup midway through the second quarter gave the Bucks their first lead of the game.
A Lillard to Antetokounmpo alley-oop gave the Bucks a 60-59 halftime lead behind 20 from the Greek Freak. Orlando was in the game because Wagner and Anthony Black combined for 23 off the bench in the first half.
Jalen Suggs ended up leading Orlando with 32 points.
The second half remained tight, with Orlando and Milwaukee leading at points but neither team being able to pull away.
Then it became Dame Time, and that was the ballgame.
