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Eric Bledsoe played the perfect sidekick to superstar Giannis Antetokoumpo as the Bucks held off Magic 118-108 in Orlando for their fourth consecutive win. Milwaukee shot 55% from the field as a unit in this road game, and a decent 40% from downtown en route to handing the Orlando Magic their third straight loss.
The Milwaukee Bucks sit atop the Eastern Conference leaderboard with 33-12 (0.733) win-loss record, having won eight of their last ten matchups. The East leaders outscored their opponents 31-2 in terms of fastbreak points in the game. The three-days rest in Orlando prior to the game was visible as the visitors looked sharp on both ends of the floor.
On the other hand, the Magic have now dropped seven of their last nine as their record slips to 19-27 (0.413) on the season, down at the 11th spot out East. They are currently 15 games behind the team they lost to, in terms game-differential.
The Magic find themselves on the edge of a downward spiral as they ready themselves to face the surging Hawks and Nets in the upcoming encounters.
Now that we know the result, let's take a look at some of the best and worst performances from the night.
Hit: Eric Bledsoe
Giannis' rise to glory has been facilitated by an unsung hero in Eric Bledsoe down in Milwaukee, and the Greek Freak approves of it,
"Eric can go 12 of 14, score 30 points and still get everyone involved," Antetokounmpo said. "He's a pass-first point guard. We play faster and more together with him. He makes the game a lot easier for me, Malcolm, Khris (Middleton) and Brook (Lopez)."
On this very night, the quintessential sidekick dropped a season-high total of 30 points, shooting 12-of-14 from the floor, along with seven boards to himself. According to Coach Budenholzer, 'he did a little bit of everything'.
Well, Mike's not wrong. Eric shot threes, went to the basket, amped up the intensity on the defensive end and got the team involved, not forgetting that he scored 12 of his 30 in the final period when it mattered the most.
This was the fifth straight game with 15 points or more for 'the Bledshow'.
Flop: Evan Fournier
Evan Fournier's numbers need to improve if Orlando are to have any remote chance of making it to to the playoffs, let alone make it big there. The French national has been putting up subpar scoring totals as of late, putting Vucevic on an isolated tough spot on the scoring front.
For this game, in particular, Evan played a team-high 31 minutes but could manage to contribute just 11 points on a miserable 5-of-14 shooting from the field. He attempted five shots from the deep and made none whatsoever.
In a game against one of the best teams in the league, Fournier left the offensive load solely on Vucevic's shoulders who pulled through for a team-high scoring night again with 27 points.
It's been more than two weeks since Fournier scored 20 points or more, and that needs to change if Magic doesn't want Vucevic's season to go down the train once and for all.
Hit: Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Greek Freak is averaging a double-double of 26.4 points and 12.5 rebounds per game this season so far, and with the Bucks set for a strong playoff campaign this year, Giannis has been on the forefront of the grinding process.
Against the Magic, Giannis had another one of his classic double-double nights on the road, as he finished with 25 points and 13 boards, on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. The 7-foot power forward also attempted three long-range shots and managed to net one of them.
He has managed to put up 25+ points as well as pull down rebounds in double-digits in six of his last seven games, helping Bucks edge past the Raptors for the apex in the East.
With his team sporting the best defensive rating in the league, Giannis has really been a force this year on both the offensive and defensive end combined.
Flop: Brook Lopez
Brook Lopez is riding the three-point wave to the fullest. He is attempting 6.6 threes per game on an average this season so far and dropping a career-high 38% from the deep.
With the Bucks not even top 15 in terms of three-point shooting percentage, it is the one-half of the Lopez brothers in Milwaukee that's been trying to fix that since times immemorial
In Orlando, Brook heaved the ball seven times from the distance but could only get it to fall on two occasions. He finished with just 8 points next to his name, on a lowly 3-of-9 shooting night from the floor.
Although the Bucks' center came up with six of the team's seven blocked shots in the game, his impact on the offensive end was unproductive, to say the least. This was the fifth in last eight games that he had ended up scoring in single-digits for his team.
Guess the Lakers players!
