Milwaukee — The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Orlando Magic 117-99 on Wednesday night without Giannis Antetokounmpo thanks to Bobby Portis' 30 points, nine rebounds, and career-high five steals.
The Bucks played the night after Antetokounmpo departed a 104-91 win against the Celtics with a strained left calf. The two-time MVP will miss the remaining three games of the regular season, but his playoff participation is unknown, the Bucks confirmed Wednesday.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers said before the game, “No timeline or anything like that, but we've got the best team working with him.” “No one works harder than him. You know. He'll return when expected. We’ll discover when.” The Bucks moved to 4-3 without Antetokounmpo with 29 points and nine assists from Damian Lillard. Jae Crowder added 14 bench points. Pat Beverley scored 13, rebounded 8, and assisted 6.
Khris Middleton missed 16 games this season due to a sprained left ankle, but Milwaukee monitored his workload. “We’re a deep team,” Lillard added. “Obviously Giannis is the snake's head. We perform best when he's out. But we have several guys in the locker room. We have vets, and I think we understood the mission tonight. We expected to be down Giannis and Khris. We knew how to play. We recognized what energy we needed. I thought we started that way.”
Milwaukee (49-31) leads New York (47-32) and Cleveland (47-33) for the Eastern Conference's No. 2 playoff berth behind the Boston Celtics, who have the NBA's best regular-season record. As they seek one of the Eastern Conference's top six seeds and avoid a play-in, the Magic (46-34) have dropped two straight and three of four. Orlando is seeking its first postseason berth since 2020 and third since 2012.
Orlando plays Philadelphia on Friday and Milwaukee on Sunday in its last two regular-season games. Cole Anthony, who led the Magic with 23 points, said, “I think those games will be very similar to the game we played tonight.” “Tonight felt like playoffs. Loud fans. We were allowed to play by the refs. We faced a great team. It will be like that in the playoffs.”
The Magic's Paolo Banchero scored 20 and Jalen Suggs 18. Orlando's Franz Wagner missed a second straight game with a sprained right ankle. After the Magic scored five points, the Bucks went on a 7-0 run. In the next 2 1/2 minutes, the Magic tied twice but never led again.
The Bucks led 64-50 at halftime thanks to Portis' 24 points and four steals. Orlando had 10 turnovers in the first 1 1/2 quarters, and the Bucks scored 16-0 off them. “They capitalized on every mistake we made,” Anthony added. The Bucks led by double-digits in the second half. Bucks reserve guard A.J. Green departed after 15 minutes with an injured left ankle.
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