Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks shot 52.6 percent from the field and dominated the battle of the boards against the Orlando Magic. But turnovers made the difference.
The Bucks coughed it up 23 times, while the Magic turned it over just 10. Milwaukee fell behind early and chipped their way back late, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the miscues in a 107-98 defeat.
“I thought our effort was better in the second half,” Jason said. “The turnovers late hurt us.”
Greg Monroe scored a game-leading 23 points as the Bucks (33-48) lost to the Magic (35-46) in the penultimate game of the season, and their final road contest of the year. With the playoffs not in the picture and the Magic leading the entirety of the game, Jason was able to mix around some lineups to see what might work and won’t work for next season.
The Magic led 23-12 just over midway through the first quarter, but Giannis Antetokounmpo answered with a driving dunk, spinning around a defender for the slam to narrow the deficit to single digits. The Bucks were unable to manufacture a run, however, and trailed 32-22 at the end of the first quarter.
With 7:11 left in the second quarter, Greivis Vasquez dropped in a floater to close a 5-0 run and cut the Magic lead to 38-34. Vasquez, in just his sixth game back from injury, scored eight points off the bench. He and Tyler Ennis, who had 10 points, shared time and combined for five assists. Coach Kidd liked what he saw out of the two-point guard lineup.
“The two point guards out there on the floor, I thought it was great,” Jason said. “They’re playmakers; they could put pressure on the defense.”
Near the end of the first half, Orlando took its turn and raced out to a 58-44 halftime lead. Ersan Ersan Ilyasova, who spent his first seven seasons in the NBA with the Bucks, opened the second half with a 16-foot jumper to make it 60-44. Ilyasova finished with 22 points, which didn’t surprise Jason at all.
“Ers hasn’t changed,” Jason said. “That’s who he is. He’s a warrior. He’s a competitor. He’s a winner. He made plays on both ends.”
Orlando stretched its lead to 20 late in the quarter, but Milwaukee answered. A pair of buckets from Ennis and a couple of energizing dunks by Jabari Parker made it just a 12-point game with 12 minutes to play.
Khris Middleton and John Henson narrowed the deficit to 10 points when Middleton drove through the lane and threw it up to the long arm of Henson for a dunk with 8:45 on the clock. With 6:09 remaining, Ennis dribbled down the right side of the lane and finished with an easy layup to cut the score to 92-88.
“I thought Tyler did a good job there,” Jason said. “Then we came back with the starters and we left Miles
[Plumlee] out there to play with those guys.”At the 5:41 mark, Plumlee laid down a dunk to keep the difference at four points for the Bucks.
“Miles has done a lot of good stuff for us,” Jason said. “Especially after an overtime game in Philly, understanding we’re trying to get better, and you saw that in the second half.”
Despite the comeback effort, the bid fell shy near the end. Four is as close as the Bucks came. The Magic knocked down eight free throws in the final period to toss salt on the victory.
NEXT UP
The Bucks will close out their season at home Wednesday against the Indiana Pacers (43-37).
Milwaukee and Indy have met three times this season, with the Bucks winning on Dec. 31 in Indiana 120-116. The other two times, Indiana has triumphed. On March 2, the Pacers won 104-99 in Milwaukee, and on Nov. 21, the Pacers beat the Bucks 123-86 in Indiana.
The game tips at 8 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Wisconsin.
RELATED LINKS
