Milwaukee makes the semis of the NBA Cup for the second consecutive season
In a hard-fought 114-109 victory over the Orlando Magic, the Milwaukee Bucks booked their trip to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinals.
Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.
What Did We Learn?
The Bucks are absolutely thrilled to be going to Las Vegas for the second consecutive year. Postgame, from everybody who talked, it became crystal clear that this is viewing be used as a turning point in the season and to generate momentum moving forward. I asked Damian Lillard about what it says about this team given their poor start to the season:
“I just think it’s more than making it to Vegas. I think it’s us being able to pull ourselves out of a hole. Being in the NBA, I know that you can’t do that with one person, or two people or three people, four people, you know? It takes the right type of energy to be spread throughout the group. You know, how we come into the practice facility, how the energy is in the locker room, how we engage with our coaches, you know, in practice, and how we’re able to just stay connected, even when things aren’t going well and maybe the coaches might be frustrated with us not doing things good enough. We might be frustrated with ourselves. And we just stayed connected. We kept fighting — and that’s a hard thing to do when you’re struggling and you’re expected to be winning and people are talking about your team. It takes a connected group to be able to bounce back and come out of that and get where to where we’ve gotten to. We just have to understand that and also not reach where we’ve reached now and think that our work is done. You know, we got ourselves back to where we want to be, in a good position, and we’ve got to continue to build on that.”
There were some interesting quotes from both Lillard and Bobby Portis when asked about what’s different this year compared to last year’s Vegas trip. Both mentioned how last season, it seemed as if the Bucks were expected to make it to the semis. However, this year has been vastly different given the rough start out of the gates. It’s evident that the team’s play of late has turned the stone to a new identity they feel that they can take and that they’re very eager to keep the momentum going.
Three Observations
Giannis still had a major influence on this game despite a bizarre assist total.
It was so odd to continue seeing the goose egg of zero assists next to Giannis’ name in the box score. The passes that he was making were there, but teammates just failed to make shots. It caught Doc Rivers’ attention as well, as postgame, he mentioned how it was indeed odd that his assist total was that low. He did say that he was going to review film to see what the reasoning may be, so I wouldn’t be surprised for Giannis to enter double-figure territory with his assists in Vegas. Despite that low output, Antetokounmpo was still able to make his presence felt, as he fueled a team-high 32 points on the night.
Jalen Suggs put together a masterpiece of a performance.
When Franz Wagner went down with an injury recently, some expected the Magic to fall in a hole of sorts, just due to his offensive production. In this one, it almost seemed as if Wagner was indeed playing out there just with how Orlando was sticking around. They were doing so in large part from Jalen Suggs. The fourth-year player out of Gonzaga has really begun piecing things together, showcasing his talents in quite the explosive manner. Last night, he erupted with 32 points and seven rebounds. His shot-making ability always prevented the Bucks from unraveling a large lead. He also did a terrific job of generating contact and getting to the charity stripe, where he went 7/12 on the night. He’s really turning into a fun player to watch and will surely continue having the spotlight on him throughout Wagner’s absence.
This Orlando team is an exciting bunch.
This is dovetailing from my point above. Despite losing Wagner, this was a team that didn’t roll over and let the Bucks walk over them to Vegas. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Led by Suggs, this is a well-coached team under the helm of Jamahl Mosley that has some really sound pieces to build off of. Goga Bitadze had some major highlight plays, including a throw-down dunk over Antetokounmpo. He finished with 12 hard-earned points and secured a double-double with 14 boards. It’s always fun to see teams right the ship and coach young talent to be successful and that’s exactly what Orlando is doing.
Up Next
The Bucks are now off to Las Vegas for the semifinals of the NBA Cup. They’ll face off against either the New York Knicks or Atlanta Hawks. Those two teams are playing each other tonight. We don’t know exactly when the Bucks will be playing next, as Semifinal #1 is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CDT on TNT, TruTV, and Max and Semifinal #2 is set for 7:30 p.m. CDT on ABC. Teams have yet to be announced, but stay tuned to Brew Hoop for more.
Bonus Bucks Bits
- Bobby Portis continues to shine. He scored 22 points and hauled in 10 rebounds tonight for his third double-double of the season. He scored 12 of his points and grabbed five of his boards in the second quarter, shooting 5-6 from the field (.833) and 1-1 from three in the period. He’s now scored 20+ points on 80% shooting in each of his last two games, missing just three of his last 21 attempts overall.
- Last night marked Khris Middleton’s first home game of the season. Despite not scoring a single point, he was able to impact the game through the facilitation of the basketball with his eight assists.
- Giannis keeps climbing the record books. Last night, he passed Eddie Johnson (19,202) to move to No. 61 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
- Antetokounmpo scored 37 points in tonight’s game for his third straight game with 30+ points and league-high 15th 30-point game of the season. He shot 62.5% from the field (15-24), marking his 22nd consecutive game with 20+ points on 50% shooting. It’s the third-longest such streak in NBA history behind Shaquille O’Neal (25, Jan. 7-March 15, 2001) and Zion Williamson (25, Feb. 6-April 6, 2021).
- Doc labeled this game as a sloppy one. Milwaukee turned the ball over 16 times on the night. When they were turning it over, the Magic would make runs. However, the buckets dried up for them when Milwaukee took care of things.
- Khris Middleton was also creating history of his own. With his second rebound in the game, he passed Glenn Robinson (3,519) to move up to No. 7 on the team’s all-time rebounding list. He now trails Terry Cummings (3,578) for sixth place.
- I mentioned how odd it was to see Giannis without an assist until the fourth quarter. In addition to that, it was wild seeing Dame not having a 3-pointer for such a long stretch of time. He’d finish 2/5 from the perimeter on the evening.
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