The shorthanded Magic were game Tuesday night.
But ultimately, the firepower of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard proved too much to overcome. The All-Star Bucks duo rallied Milwaukee from an early to deficit to a 114-109 win over Orlando in the first game of the NBA Cup quarterfinals.
Milwaukee overcame an 18-point fourth quarter from Jalen Suggs that helped rally Orlando to a 107-106 lead with 40.1 seconds remaining. But Lillard scored nine points in the final 52 seconds to help thwart the Orlando upset bid.
With the win, the Bucks advance to the semifinal round in Las Vegas, where they’ll take on the winner between the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks. A Magic team playing without its two best players is eliminated from NBA Cup play.
The Magic earned their place in the NBA Cup knockout round despite playing 21 of their 26 previous games without All-Star forward Paolo Banchero, who’s been sidelined since Oct. 30 with a torn oblique. Then when they got got to Tuesday’s knockout round, they played without breakout forward Franz Wagner, who suffered his own torn oblique in Friday’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
For the Magic, that meant a starting lineup of Jalen Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Goga Bitadze, Wendell Carter Jr. and Tristan de Silva. With strong bench support from Moritz Wagner and Anthony Black, the Magic opened a 33-25 lead and kept Orlando competitive throughout.
But the best two players on the court suited up for the Bucks and ultimately powered the Milwaukee to victory. Antetokounmpo and Lillard combined to score 29 straight Bucks points during a span that stretched from midway through the second quarter through the last two minutes of the third. Milwaukee’s defense clamped down in a third quarter that the Bucks won, 20-13 to take an 80-72 advantage into the fourth.
But the Magic weren’t done. They tied the game on multiple occasions in the fourth quarter before taking a 102-101 lead in the final 3 minutes on a shot by Suggs. Wendell Carter Jr. free throws then put Orlando up 106-103 with 1:13 remaining.
But Lillard countered with a 3 to tie the game at 106-106.
He then answered a Black free throw with a layup to retake the lead at 108-107.
He added four free throws in the final nine seconds to ice the game for the Bucks.
