Dominant Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the Milwaukee Bucks to equalize against the Orlando Magic

I recovered the top seeded Milwaukee Bucks from the opening defeat against Orlando Magic and the series was offset by a clear 111: 86 (here are the highlights of the game). The reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was the dominant player on the floor with 28 points and 20 rebounds. In the series it is now 1-1.

Milwaukee Bucks (1) – Orlando Magic (8) 111:96 (BOXSCORE), Serie: 1-1

The sting after the opening defeat against eight seeded Orlando Magic was deep and so the Milwaukee Bucks left no doubt from the start that they wanted to make up for the opening defeat in the series. Orlando only led once in the entire game and that in the first minutes of the first quarter. Otherwise, Milwaukee didn’t let the Magic unfold.

“I think the whole team was ready for the game. You just have to understand it, you don’t want to be 2-0 behind. We can always come back then, but you don’t want to put yourself in a situation like that, especially not so early in the playoffs. We knew that we had to go out and just play hard, “said Giannis Antetokounmpo, giving an insight into the team’s motivation.

After just twelve minutes, the Bucks had created a 12-point lead. Until the break, the lead was even 23 points. Even if Orlando were able to open the game after the break, they never came back within striking distance.

Nikola Vucevic was – as in the first game – the best player in Magic, but received too little support for a long time. The center posed problems for the big men of the Bucks a few times with smart post moves and ended up with 32 points and 10 rebounds.

“He’s a very, very good player and we have a lot of respect for him, but I think our defense was good overall,” said Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer Vucevic. Orlando’s Evan Fournier (12 points) only woke up in the fourth quarter when the Magic were able to push the deficit again to under ten points.

Antetokounmpo in Abdul-Jabbar’s footsteps

But in the phase Giannis Antetokounmpo took over the reins again. The MVP could not be brought under control by the Magic and kept getting easy points in the zone. With 2:22 minutes to go, Brook Lopez then increased the lead back to 14 points with a corner three. It was the final decision.

Milwaukee kept the Magic 34.8 percent out of the field and 21.2 percent from the perimeter. In addition, they dominated under the boards at will, which shows the overweight in the rebounds (57:42) and the points in the zones (42:24).

“We have to move the ball better. We didn’t do that at the beginning. We missed a few throws. But in any case, their pressure on the ball, the way our offense influenced us,” said Magic coach Steve Clifford Defeat.