Now carrying a smidge of success after a recent drought, the Milwaukee Bucks travel to Orlando to take on the Magic Monday night for the first of two games between the teams in three days.
Milwaukee enters with star Giannis Antetokounmpo still ailing, but riding a three-game win streak, its longest of the season.
“I made that comment 100 years ago: winning is like a deodorant. It covers a lot of things that stink at times,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said after Friday night’s win over Indiana. “When you start winning games, the ball goes in, you feel better, you want to come to practice. When you lose games, you dread watching film, everything is a big deal, the shots get tighter. Now you can see our guys are playing loose, they’re playing free. It’s nice.”
“It feels good,” Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. added. “We haven’t had this feeling and been in this situation as much this year as we wanted. We’re going to live in the moment and try to make it an everlasting one and continue to get these wins and stack them up.”
The Bucks are still on the outside looking in for a play-in spot and have been without Antetokounmpo, who has not played since Jan. 23 with a calf injury but was not traded ahead of Thursday’s deadline. Milwaukee is 6-14 this season without the “Greek Freak.”
“He’s gonna play when he’s healthy, we just gotta make sure he’s healthy. He’s getting close,” Rivers said on Friday. “Like, he’s working out, he looks good. So, I would say hopefully sooner than later.”
Orlando, currently nestled at seventh in the Eastern Conference, is riding a modest two-game win streak and has been without leading scorer Franz Wagner (22.2 points per game) with an ankle injury since Jan. 18.
He was upgraded to questionable for Monday’s game and could return after missing the last nine games.
Paolo Banchero has picked up the scoring slack, as has Desmond Bane, who has averaged 21.8 points over his last five games and has made at least one three in his last 12.
Orlando trailed the Jazz by 17 points on Saturday night but rallied for a 120-117 win. Magic coach Jamahl Mosley pointed out plenty of mistakes made by his team afterwards, but said his team showed courage.
“You have to battle through adversity, I don’t care who you play, it’s a game of runs and how you handle that in a game,” Mosley said. “Down 17, you just go for those mini goals. We said let’s get it down to 10 (by the end of the third quarter) and we got it down to seven. Those are the small things guys can grab a hold of and not try to go for the home run but win the small battles.”
Monday will be the first meeting of Magic and Bucks this season. Orlando guard Jalen Suggs had a career-high 32 points against the Bucks when they met in December 2024. Milwaukee won three of four meetings last season.
