The Bucks will square off against the Orlando Magic for the second time in six days on Wednesday when the teams meet in Milwaukee.
It’s the second night of a back-to-back for the Bucks, who recorded a 130-115 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday in a game in which it led by double digits for most of the night.
Giannis Antetokounmpo picked up his 50th career regular season triple-double, finishing with 33 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. Damian Lillard chipped in 24 points and seven assists.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers spoke on the two stars’ passing ability and how it affects their offense, despite the lack of consistency with it at times.
“They know when they do it, they’re really good. The good part of that is you know you can play against anybody. The bad part is you know, if you don’t have it, you can lose against anybody, and we’ve shown that too much.”
Orlando is rested after posting a 104-99 win at home over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday. At one point in the game, the Magic were down to just eight players — including Paulo Banchero, who was on a minutes restriction.
“The Orlando Magic are gritty, they’re relentless and they found a way to will us to that game,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “That’s the identity, where they are.”
Playing in his second game back from injury (with the contest against Milwaukee on Friday being his first), Banchero scored 20 points, including seven in the final 1:32 of the game. Cole Anthony led the Magic with 27 points.
Despite Banchero’s return, Orlando’s injury report is still busy. Franz Wagner (oblique) has yet to return and has been ruled out of the Wednesday game.
Wagner still leads Orlando with 24.4 points, 5.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game across 25 games before the injury. Banchero is averaging 28.4 points and 8.4 boards in just seven games on the season.
Wagner spoke with the media on Tuesday about what’s left for him before he returns to the court.
“Just turning up the volume, making sure my body responds well to that,” he said. “I think everything is going in a really good direction, it’s more just getting back in shape and checking all the boxes before I play a game.”
Gary Harris (hamstring) and Jalen Suggs (back) also will miss the game. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (knee) and Goga Bitadze (hip) are both questionable and Jett Howard (ankle) is doubtful.
Milwaukee was without both Gary Trent Jr. (hip) and Khris Middleton (ankle) on Tuesday night. The Bucks’ injury report is still to be determined on the second night of the back-to-back.
Antetokounmpo leads Milwaukee with 31.5 points and 11.9 boards per game. Damian Lillard is averaging 7.3 assists.
The Bucks won the first two meetings between the teams on the season. They posted a 114-109 victory on Dec. 10 and a 109-106 win on Friday
Antetokounmpo excelled with 41 points and 14 boards while Lillard added 29 on Friday. In Banchero’s first game back in action, he led Orlando with 34 points.
