Bucks at Magic
Now that they've finished their one-sided season series with Miami, the Milwaukee Bucks can try to return to their winning ways when they wrap up a four-game road trip at the Orlando Magic on Saturday. The Bucks fell 91-85 at Miami on Friday to fall to 0-3 against the Heat since the middle of January, compared to 8-2 against all other opponents during that stretch.
All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 23 points but had five of Milwaukee's season-high 18 turnovers. The Magic are seeking their first four-game winning streak since early in the 2015-16 season after edging Atlanta 100-98 on Thursday. "The players and coaches are starting to show some faith in each other and that's helping us get through some rough times like we had tonight," Marreese Speights told reporters after scoring 14 points. "Now, we've got to enjoy the feeling of winning and want that feeling all the time so we can push this streak further." Forward Aaron Gordon (hip) and center Nikola Vucevic (hand) will miss their seventh and 21st straight games, respectively, but both are getting closer to a return for Orlando.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FS Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE BUCKS (30-24): Milwaukee was done after being outscored 30-8 in the third quarter, with Antetokounmpo going 0-for-3 from the floor with two turnovers in the period. "Yeah there was a lot of stretches in the game, obviously we were outscored pretty significantly and struggled to score in the third," coach Joe Prunty said, "but there were even stretches in the first half, first quarter, where we were pushing the ball, getting some stops but we just had some sloppy turnovers. ... I thought there were stretches where we could've made better decisions." Eric Bledsoe was the only starter to shoot better than 50 percent from the floor at 8-for-15 and he is averaging 23.3 points on 58.7 percent over the last three games.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (18-36): The win over the Hawks came after point guard Elfrid Payton was shipped to Phoenix for a second-round pick, and there were some growing pains on the offensive end without the shifty Payton on the floor. "Well we definitely did force too much at the rim," coach Frank Vogel told the media. "I don't know if it was because Elfrid wasn't out there. I just think we had a night where we didn't make great decisions in the paint. We did a better job of that in the second half. And, as a result, we had a strong offensive half." Journeyman D.J. Augustin is not the long-term answer at point guard but he handed out nine assists against the Hawks and is shooting 40.1 percent from 3-point range on the season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Antetokounmpo scored 26 points to lead the Bucks to a 110-103 win in the first meeting with the Magic at home last month.
2. Magic SF Evan Fournier is averaging 19.6 points while shooting 42.4 percent from 3-point range at home, compared to 16.4 and 35.2 percent on the road.
3. Bucks PF Jabari Parker had four points in 19 minutes at Miami after scoring in double figures in his first three games following a return from ACL surgery.