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Final meeting with Orlando, the Bucks have taken the first 3. Magic have been bad and have lost 5 straight, ALL OF THEM AT HOME. After a blowout loss to the Cavs they have lost to the Warriors, Raptors (twice), Bulls by 6,2,1,2 points.

First of a back to back. We play the red hot Cavs (who will not be on a B2B) on Sunday. I wish that game was first.

The initial injury report will be out this afternoon, we'll see Trent's status.

As usual, please limit the posts in this thread to the game itself. Thanks.

If we ever had a right to complain about a back to back screwing us this would be it. Later than normal start for the Eastern Time Zone and spring forward to boot. I hope Doc and the team forgo any postgame news conferences, take whatever fines come their way because essentially the game ends at 1130pm or so when you factor in the time change.

Bucksmaniac wrote:If we ever had a right to complain about a back to back screwing us this would be it. Later than normal start for the Eastern Time Zone and spring forward to boot. I hope Doc and the team forgo any postgame news conferences, take whatever fines come their way because essentially the game ends at 1130pm or so when you factor in the time change.

Both Games are at home?

MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:

Bucksmaniac wrote:If we ever had a right to complain about a back to back screwing us this would be it. Later than normal start for the Eastern Time Zone and spring forward to boot. I hope Doc and the team forgo any postgame news conferences, take whatever fines come their way because essentially the game ends at 1130pm or so when you factor in the time change.

Both Games are at home?

Oh wow, I was sure I saw it was on the road, my bad.

Yes both at home. That helps but still a tough B2B.

MickeyDavis wrote:Final meeting with Orlando, the Bucks have taken the first 3. Magic have been bad and have lost 5 straight, ALL OF THEM AT HOME. After a blowout loss to the Cavs they have lost to the Warriors, Raptors (twice), Bulls by 6,2,1,2 points.

The Ringer with a bafflingly-timed piece on the Magic.

https://www.theringer.com/2025/03/04/nba/orlando-magic-paolo-banchero-franz-wagner

Hard to squeeze out a long piece that could be summarized as limby defensive grinders that can't shoot and are injured a lot, but credit where due.

I do think Pablo is the truth, tho.

The Magic are Suggs team. They were still decent without Banchero and Wagner, but even though both are back, once Suggs went out, they floundered. He's their most valuable player.

Doesn’t seem that long ago that people were wondering if the Bucks would pass the Magic in the standings.

Orlando is stealth tanking with Suggs likely out of the season for a lottery pick. We don’t need both Giannis and Dame to win that. Keep one fresh for the Cavs.

No chance Orlando is falling out of the play-in, so I don't see any incentive for them to pack it in when it's basically just the difference between like, the 12th and 15th pick. They've lost each of their last 3-games by one possession, and with Cleveland the next night on a B2B, this feels like a trap game. Just take care of business.

Orlando's not falling out of the play-in. They're up 8 in the win column on Philly and BKN and I'd be surprised if either of those teams won 8 games total the rest of the season.

One of the strangest stats in the NBA this season is Orlando is 10-20 when Paolo plays and 19-15 when he doesn't.

This game is the start of 21 games in 37 days and after this game is an absolutely brutal 11 game stretch where they play 10 winning teams and the only sub .500 opponent is @ Phoenix.

Does Paola break the Magic strength of having a lot of good defenders? Maybe without him, they are winning on defense alone?

The Cavs game being on the 2nd of a B2B is so lame dude.

Try to take care of business in this one and put out a good effort in the Cavs game I guess.

I love hearing that they only play winning teams for a stretch. Great news at the end of the season, and I'm being serious. Ramp up the intensity and take care of business.

skbucks1985 wrote:Orlando's not falling out of the play-in. They're up 8 in the win column on Philly and BKN and I'd be surprised if either of those teams won 8 games total the rest of the season.

One of the strangest stats in the NBA this season is Orlando is 10-20 when Paolo plays and 19-15 when he doesn't.

This game is the start of 21 games in 37 days and after this game is an absolutely brutal 11 game stretch where they play 10 winning teams and the only sub .500 opponent is @ Phoenix.

Not strange at all. Paolo is a good player, but not a difference maker yet.

As I posted earlier, the Magic were good earlier in the season, because they had Suggs. Turns out Orlando is much better wiith Suggas (and without Wagner and Paolo) than they are with the two and wthout Suggs.

Suggs is to defense, as Dame is to offense. He is the best guard defender in the NBA and there are a lot of good ones (none on the Bucks)

Trent is doubtful. Everyone else is a go

Should win this one and the Cavs are due for a loss. Unless the Hornets beat the Cavs tonight and the Cavs come in pissed off Sunday and ready to start a new streak.

If the Cavs come in riding a 13 game streak, on the road against a really good Bucks team. The odds would be on our side IMO.

The Magic won't fall out of the play-in but they can certainly put themselves in a position to lose the play-in and get their Flagg lotto ticket. Staying at 9 or 10 means they'd only have to lose one game.

Should see a fair bit of Kuzma on Banchero. Interested to see how he goes there. Hate that we have this game a night before the Cavs.

Strategically bought tickets for this game. First night of B2B, figured most would play. Saturday night. Was hoping Orlando was playing in their early season form up until now but still should be competitive. Was checking out the spread on ESPN and saw their "predictor" has Orlando winning by a hair lol.