“It seems like Indiana has had our number all season,” stated Doc Rivers, head coach of the Bucks. “Good opponent, then. We have to play someone, and they’re not easy to play. They have certainly gained a lot of confidence from their excellent play against us. We’ll be really focused because we must.”  The Bucks and Pacers have not met since January 3, despite the Bucks’ 1-4 record against them this season.  “I feel good about it,” guard Damian Lillard of the Bucks stated of their matchup with Indiana. “I believe that everyone can defeat everyone in the playoffs, especially this season. That’s my true feelings regarding it.

We’re glad we have home court advantage and that the team is one we know well. They like to play quickly, as we know. They receive a high point total. We are one of the few teams, together with them, that score more than 120. We simply need to be aware of their strengths, which we are well aware of, and work to undermine as many of those advantages as we can to make the game more difficult for them.”

But Cleveland blew a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter in seven minutes, falling short to Charlotte by ten points to finish 48-34 overall. Milwaukee received some assistance in securing that spot, though.

Due to their loss, the Cavaliers were forced into the fourth seed.

With the victory, Orlando (47-35) secured the fifth spot and avoided the play-in round. With a victory over Atlanta, Indiana, led by native Oshkosh resident Tyrese Haliburton, secured the sixth spot. Boston long ago locked up the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Bucks win Central Division championship

Following Cleveland’s defeat to Charlotte on Sunday, the Bucks emerged victorious in the Central Division, earning Milwaukee its sixth consecutive division title (2018–24). This is the team’s longest winning streak in the division since they claimed six consecutive Midwest Division titles from 1980–86.

It also meant that the team would get the Wayne Embry Trophy, which was instituted by the NBA for the Central Division winners in 2021–2022.

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Embry was a founding member of the Bucks, having concluded his career with the 1968–69 expansion squad. In 1971, he became the first Black general manager in NBA history after moving to the team’s front office.

Bucks 88, Magic 113 in the box score

“I view anything named after Wayne Embry as a good award,” stated Doc Rivers, head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. He is one of the league’s pioneers.

He is, in fact, the reason I think I am a coach because I initially went to him for assistance after leaving the league. He advised me not to take the two or three assistant coaching job interviews I had, telling me to go to TV and show off my brain to everyone rather than hiding out on the bench where no one would see you. He was correct, too. It’s awesome. It’s good to win anything, listen.

This indicates that you succeeded in earning it, so we’re moving on to bigger things.

Bucks go ice cold in second quarter, never warm up

After the first five minutes of the second quarter, the Bucks led 39-28. However, after that, their offense went into hibernation as they failed to score another basket and turned the ball over three times, allowing the Magic to close the half with a 17-3 run.

Doc Rivers, the head coach of the Bucks, said of the Magic 7-footer, “I thought way too many isos, and not only did we iso, we iso’d the wrong guy – Jonathan Isaac changed the game for them.” “We just kept scheduling pick-and-rolls with him instead of other guys because he’s long and effective. Still, nice lesson.

“But we’re not a very good iso team. We have, I believe, demonstrated that this year. We can be at times, but I believe we’re up nine and we may have scored once in ten or eleven consecutive possessions. Maybe we didn’t score any of them. That’s something that we just need to catch ourselves, as I mentioned before the game and before halftime. In that regard, we must improve.”

Even though Orlando was only leading 47–42 at the half, Milwaukee was having a difficult period of play since the starters were playing for the majority of that time.

The final 7:06 of the quarter saw the Bucks go 0 for 10, with three of Khris Middleton’s free throws accounting for their lone basket.

“They started pressuring us, got us out of our sets and after that we just broke down,” Middleton stated. “I believe that following the first quarter, there was poor execution and improper spacing. Thus, we simply need to improve in that area.”

The Bucks’ poor performance in the paint in the second quarter carried over from their 4 for 12 performance in the first.

They were only 2 for 7 in the paint.

Milwaukee struggled to create shots and went only 4-for-16 (25%) from behind the three-point line, which was only highlighted by their total 31.6% shooting percentage from inside the painted area. Orlando is a tough defense – one of the best in the league – with athletic disruptors from the rim to the backcourt, and they forced Damian Lillard (1-for-11), Middleton (2-for-7) and Brook Lopez (2-for-6) into tough shots from all over the court in the opening half.

Rivers remarked, “I didn’t like many of our looks.”

“Defensively, I thought they were excellent. Many of our looks didn’t appeal to me. Many of our belongings didn’t appeal to me, and that was my fault for trying to arrange them properly. We played a mediocre attacking game tonight.”

The Bucks never took the lead back, even though they were behind by just five at the half. They got within three on a couple of occasions early in the third quarter, but the Magic never let off the gas defensively and the Bucks couldn’t make enough shots.

Lillard shot 2 of 14 for 16 points in the game, including 0 of 4 from outside the three-point arc. He made 12 of 13 free throws. Middleton made 6 of 15 shots for 17 points, missing all four of his three-point attempts in the process. He made five of his six free throws.

Bobby Portis finished with 10 rebounds and 17 points.

Leading the Magic with 26 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists was Paolo Banchero. Franz Wagner had 25 points and three others finished in double figures for the Magic.

Did you notice Doc Rivers wanted to pull Damian Lillard?

Around 5:35 into the second quarter, 7-foot Orlando center Jonathan Isaac made some contact with Lillard in the back court. Lillard rebounded and made it to the lane, but he missed a layup. Pat Connaughton leaped up to check on Rivers as soon as he noticed something that didn’t sit well. Rivers then turned to the bench to see whether Lillard needed to come out.

However, Lillard stayed in the game and gave Rivers assurances during a play break.

Following the game, Rivers expressed his disapproval of Lillard’s movement, and the point guard acknowledged that he occasionally felt pain in his left adductor muscle. Because of the problem, he was unable to attend Friday’s match versus Oklahoma City.

“Had a few little irritation-type moments in that second quarter and Doc was like, I’m going to get you you out,” Lillard said. “He tried to get me out in the second quarter and I was just like, we already here now, let’s just play.”

After 30 minutes, Lillard was eventually taken out of the game. He would have been out of action for more than a week and a half if he hadn’t played against Orlando.

“I felt good about at least being on the floor going into the playoffs,” Lillard stated.

“I didn’t want to enter the postseason with no game experience at all. It helped me to just sort of get that bump to be able to go out there and see guys attempting to pick me up full court, denying me whole court, and other things like that.”

The point guard stated that although he “won’t be perfect,” he should be ready for the postseason’s opening round. However, I doubt that no one is. However, the week will be beneficial to us if we can only gather everything, finish the remaining tasks, and clear our minds.”

Milwaukee’s Jamahl Mosley leads Magic to playoff turnaround

Milwaukee native Jamahl Mosley, who moved to San Diego when he was just a teenager, is the head coach of Orlando and has led the Magic to a winning record for the first time since 2018–19 and the postseason for the first time since 2019–20.

Orlando’s 47 victories are the most the team has had since 2010–2011.

The 45-year-old Mosley made his NBA debut in 2006–07 with Denver. He later served as an assistant coach in Cleveland and Dallas before joining the Magic in 2021–2022. Employed by former Bucks executives John Hammond and Jeff Weltman, Mosley has improved his team’s record by 25 wins in just three seasons.

Doc Rivers, the head coach of the Bucks, remarked, “He’s done a terrific job.” “When you have a young team, like we said in the last game against Oklahoma City, two of the NBA’s younger teams will both be in the postseason. It’s very remarkable. They have succeeded in winning over youthful teams.

Jamahl simply never stops improving. I’m glad he was granted an extension. It seemed highly deserved, in my opinion.

Mosley was asked what he had learned from this season, especially after going through the low points of nine-game losing streaks in his first two seasons with a core group of players who are all under 25 years old, even though he knew there was still work to be done.

“It says so much about the organization, about each of these guys being willing to stay the course no matter what’s going on and continue to learn, continue to gain experiences through all of these things from season one to now,” he said. “The ability to have continuity, learning from that, learning that the messaging that you continue to bring to these guys and your coaches every single day and the care and the focus our coaches have had with this group.”