Pat Connaughton (14 points), Jrue Holiday (13), Khris Middleton (12) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (11) led Milwaukee at the break. Their 77-36 lead set a franchise record for largest margin at a half. The Bucks also forced the Magic into 13 turnovers and scored 21 points off those. What helped the scoring effort was the Bucks’ proficiency on the defensive glass, as they pulled down 21 defensive rebounds to prevent the Magic from scoring any second-chance points. They led by as many as 44.Īll nine players who played for the Bucks in the opening half scored as the team shot at a blistering 59.2% clip and went 11 for 25 from behind the three-point line (44%).
On Monday the Bucks scored a season-high 77 points in the first half and a season-high 41 points in the second quarter. It’s good to play a team again and have that look and feel and our guys played well tonight, executed on both ends including coming out the third quarter. “We watched some film, the guys have been locked in, the leaders are ready to go. “It was good,” coach Mike Budenholzer said of the team’s energy. The Bucks had not had a blowout victory since beating Detroit by 28 points on Nov. I just think our team is getting better game by game.” “I think just having everybody here – obviously we’re missing Brook (Lopez) and Donte (DiVincenzo) but still having most of our guys here – is just giving us confidence just to out there and just play and play our game and play our brand of basketball. On the defensive side, showing a crowd, just being as active as possible, talking. “Everybody was on one cord, one string, out there playing, having fun, sharing the basketball. “Just trying to stay locked in for 48 minutes,” Bucks center Bobby Portis said. More: The Milwaukee Bucks are NBA champions and you can buy the book to relive the exciting season More: Khris Middleton has returned, and that's a good thing. It was needed, too, as Milwaukee had built second-half leads of 20 and 29 over Oklahoma City and Orlando the last two games only to have to grind out victories at the end. They haven’t all been pretty, but Monday’s win was one of the carefree variety due to an explosive first half. After a 123-92 victory over the Orlando Magic on Monday, however, the team is 10-8 and has won four straight at Fiserv Forum. The Milwaukee Bucks appear to be turning a corner, at least when it comes to securing victories.īefore coming off their longest road trip of the year Wednesday, the defending champions were under.