The Milwaukee Bucks have a chance to send themselves into the second round with a win this Monday against the Orlando Magic, who are grasping straws right now. Check out our preview of this game below.
The Bucks once again flexed their muscle on the Magic and came away with a 121-107 win in Game 3. They were never seriously threatened by Orlando at any point in the game, as the Bucks had total control of almost everything from beginning to end. The Magic cut down the lead to seven points with over seven minutes left in the game but Milwaukee responded with a crippling 9-0 run to silence Orlando for good. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 35 points on the undermanned Magic. The Greek Freak also recorded 11 rebounds and seven assists, while Khris Middleton added 17 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. The Bucks seem to have taken the fight away from Orlando after shooting 56 percent from the field and draining 17 3-pointers in Game 3. The Magic simply couldn’t match Milwaukee’s depth and starting unit strength, and the Bucks are efficiently capitalizing on that. The Bucks are using their advantage in the rebounding department to control the series. They have won the rebounding battle by at least nine boards in Games 2 and 3.
The Bucks are 29-28 against the spread (ATS) after a win in this oh-so-strange season.
The Magic are up against big odds to win the series, but they will always have that Game 1 win to remind them that they can beat Milwaukee one game at a time. Given their banged-up roster, the Magic can’t afford to have any of their remaining key players to play bad. Such was the case for Markelle Fultz in Game 3 when he went just 2 of 9 from the field for just five points. Evan Fournier also scored only 13 points in that game. Fournier has to wake up. He is shooting just 35.5 percent from the floor in this series. Only Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross are shooting better than 45 percent from the field in the playoffs, thus far. However, as a team, the Magic have shown they can strike a lot from deep. In Game 1, they hit 16 threes. Game 2 saw them making just seven 3-pointers, but Orlando went 19 of 40 from behind the arc in Game 3. Powered by DJ Augustin and Ross, the Magic are tops in the playoffs in bench production, with 43.0 points from the reserves per game.
