Bucks at Magic
The Orlando Magic look for their 15th straight home win over the Milwaukee Bucks when the Eastern Conference teams square off Tuesday. After an impressive start to the season, the Magic have dropped three straight by progressively wider margins, including a 120-105 defeat at Boston on Monday. They hope to end the skid by sending Milwaukee to its third straight loss, as the Bucks were blown out 118-95 at Miami on Tuesday.
The Bucks got off to another slow start against the Heat and have trailed but double digits at halftime in all three of their road games. The Magic have seen their promising start turn sour because of lackluster defensive efforts of late. "We were holding teams to less than 90 points, and when we do that we'll always give ourselves a chance to win," Orlando forward Maurice Harkless told the team's website. "But when we start letting teams hit 3s and a lot of jump shots, there's no way to win like that."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FSN Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE BUCKS (2-4): Milwaukee is in the early stages of a rebuilding process and is short-handed with power forward Ersan Ilyasova, center Larry Sanders and guard Luke Ridnour all sidelined and small forward Carlos Delfino out for the year. Shooting guard O.J. Mayo (16.5 points) has carried the offense but was held to a season-low six points against Miami. Milwaukee doesn't have anyone else who can fill up the stat sheet on a nightly basis and got far more points from its bench (60) than its starters (35) against the Heat.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (3-5): Orlando also is rebuilding but has a couple of solid blocks for the foundation. Center Nikola Vucevic (15.6 points, 11.9 rebounds) and guard Arron Afflalo (19.5 points, 4.8 assists) appear poised for breakout seasons, and first-round pick Victor Oladipo (12.1 points) is a star in the making. The recent defensive lapse is worrisome, though, as Magic still rank near the top of the league in defensive field-goal percentage but have allowed their last two opponents to shoot a combined 53.7 percent.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Milwaukee's last win in Orlando was on Dec. 29, 2004.
2. Orlando's bench is averaging 38 points per game and has outscored the opponent's reserves in seven of eight contests.
3. Bucks rookie PG Nate Wolters has 34 assists and only five turnovers for an NBA-best 6.8-to-1 ratio.