NBA’s No. 1 seeds sputter in openers
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers entered the NBA playoffs as their respective conferences No. 1 seeds.
They both exit their first playoff game with a deficit few expected.
Nikola Vucevic scored a playoff career-high 35 points and had 14 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic stunned the top-seeded Bucks 122-110 on Tuesday in the league’s fan-free Disney World bubble. More than 10 hours later, Damian Lillard scored 34 points to outshine LeBron James’ triple-double as the Portland Trail Blazers downed the West’s top team 100-93.
Both teams will try to bounce back from their 1-0 first-round holes on Thursday.
Terrence Ross scored 18 points, Gary Clark added 15, and D.J. Augustin had 11 points and 11 assists for the eighth-seeded Magic, who were 14-point underdogs to the Bucks.
“We don’t care what other people have to say,” Vucevic said. “We focus on ourselves, and we came out and played a great game on both ends of the floor.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 31 points, 17 rebounds and 7 assists for Milwaukee. Last season’s MVP was held without a field goal over the final 11 minutes.
“You have to really be ready for what they do,” Vucevic said. “Especially us against a team like Milwaukee where we have to make sure we know their stuff and we are prepared for everything. Tonight, we definitely were on top of that. We did a good job executing the game plan.”
The Bucks came into the postseason as the favorites to win the NBA title. But they went 3-5 in seeding games in the bubble, and that sluggish play carried over into the postseason.
George Hill said the Bucks needed to do some “soul searching.”
Antetokounmpo didn’t go that far, saying the Bucks’ energy level was fine, but that they need to make more shots. Milwaukee made 43% from the field and was 14 of 42 from three-point land.
“There’s no magic wand to point and things are going to change,” Antetokounmpo said. “You’ve got to come out, play hard, play even harder, play together and have fun.”
Milwaukee swept the season series against Orlando, winning four games by an average of 17 points, but struggled with the Magic’s stingy defense, which caused 16 turnovers and repeatedly clogged the lane, forcing Antetokounmpo to settle for jump shots.
“Obviously, our main focus was try to make it hard on Giannis, to protect the paint,” Vucevic said. “We did that as a team. Gary [Clark] did a great job fighting him and we were able to help.”
The Magic led most of the game.
Orlando used a 15-2 run to build a 51-33 lead midway through the second quarter behind 16 points from Vucevic.
Milwaukee made several runs in the second half, but the Magic had an answer every time.