Bucks entering playoffs sore, lacking momentum
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Milwaukee Bucks had the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference in hand for the better part of the last month of the regular season, but they finished 2-6 in April after losing to the Orlando Magic Sunday afternoon.
The Bucks ended the year 49-33 and will be the No. 3 seed and face the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the NBA playoffs. A Knicks victory over the Bulls in overtime gave New York the No. 2 spot.
The Bucks went 1-4 against the Pacers this season, but they last played one another on Jan. 3. Game 1 of the best-ofseven series is Sunday at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
“Indiana has had our number all year, right?” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “So, perfect opponent. Listen, we gotta play somebody and they’re tough. They’ve played great against us, they have probably great confidence against us. We’ll have great focus, because we’re gonna have to.”
Milwaukee got some help to claim the third seed, however, as Cleveland blew a 13-point fourth quarter lead in seven minutes and eventually lost to Charlotte to finish 48-34 overall. The Cavaliers’ loss locked them into the fourth seed.
Orlando (47-35) avoided the play-in tournament and earned the fifth seed with the win. Its 47 wins are the most for the franchise since 2010-11.
Indiana, led by Tyrese Haliburton, clinched the sixth seed with a win over Atlanta.
The Pacers (47-35) have the top scoring offense in the league at 123.3 points per game and the Bucks are not far behind, ranking fourth with 119 points per contest.
“I feel good about it,” Bucks guard Damian Lillard said of facing Indiana. “I think the one thing about the playoffs, especially this season, everybody can beat everybody. That’s really how I feel about it. Happy that we got home court and it’s a team that we familiar with. We know they like to play fast. They score a lot of points. There’s only a few teams that score over 120, we one of ‘em and they one of ’em. We just gotta know what their strengths are, which we know well, and we gotta try and take as many of those things away and make it a tougher game for ’em.”
Boston secured the top seed in the Eastern Conference some time ago.
Meanwhile, the Bucks have been without star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has a left calf strain. No timeline has been set for his return. The team said he will “receive daily treatment and evaluation.”
Still on Sunday, the Bucks won the Central Division when Cleveland lost to Charlotte, giving Milwaukee its sixth straight division title (2018-24) – the longest stretch of division championships in the division since the organization won six straight Midwest Division titles from 1980-86.
Though they trailed the Magic by only five at the break Sunday, the Bucks never regained the lead. They got within three on a couple of occasions early in the third quarter, but Orlando never let off the gas defensively and the Bucks couldn’t make enough shots.
Lillard finished with 16 points on 2of-14 shooting, including an 0-for-4 mark from behind the 3-point line. He made 12 of 13 free throws. Middleton scored 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting and he also missed all four of his three-point attempts. He was 5 of 6 from the free throw line.
Bobby Portis had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Franz Wagner had 25 points and three others finished in double figures for the Magic.
At about the 5:35 mark of the second quarter, Lillard took some contact from 7-foot Orlando center Jonathan Isaac in the back court, eventually recovered and got to the lane before missing a layup. Rivers saw something he didn’t like, and immediately turned to the bench to see if Lillard needed to come out and Pat Connaughton jumped up to check in.
But during a stoppage in play, Lillard reassured Rivers he was OK and stayed in the game.
After the game Rivers said he didn’t like the way Lillard was moving, and the point guard admitted he felt his sore left hip muscle at times. He had missed the game against Oklahoma City on Friday with the issue.
“Had a few little irritation-type moments in that second quarter and Doc was like, I’m going to get you you out,” Lillard acknowledged. “He tried to get me out in the second quarter and I was just like, we already here now, let’s just play.”
Lillard was eventually pulled after clocking 30 minutes. Had he not played against Orlando he would have been out of action for over a week and a half.
“I felt good about at least being on the floor going into the playoffs,” Lillard said. “I didn’t want to just not have no type of game action going into the postseason. Being able to get out there, guys denying me full court, trying to pick me up full court, stuff like that, that was just good for me to just kind of get that bump.”
Lillard has struggled from the floor against Indiana, making just 32% of his shots in four games. He’s averaging 20.2 points per game but making just 26.4% of his 3-point attempts (nine of 34).
The point guard said he should be good to go for the first round of the playoffs, but “I won’t be perfect. But I don’t think nobody is. But the week, just being able to get everything together, getting the rest and getting our minds right, it will be good for us.”