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The NBA regular season is in full swing, but it is time to take a break from that for a couple of nights. We have the NBA Emirates Cup Eastern Quarterfinals game between the Orlando Magic and the Milwaukee Bucks on tap tonight. Both teams had tough roads to get here, and this article will recap how each team did in pool play and preview this single-elimination matchup.
We will also dish out our favorite Magic vs Bucks pick, so without further ado, let’s dive right in.
The Magic have had a solid start to the regular season, sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. They have done that without their best player, Paolo Banchero, who has missed a lot of the season due to injury. With Paolo out, outer guys like Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner have taken their game to the next level.
The Magic got into this Quarterfinal matchup by going 3-1 in pool play and finishing as the wild-card winner. The Magic had wins over the Hornets, 76ers and Nets, and their one loss came to the New York Knicks. The Magic finished pool play with a +45 point differential.
We mentioned above that Franz Wagner took his game to the next level. He led this Magic team in scoring for the four pool play games, averaging 30.5 points per game. Not only was he their leading scorer, but he was also their leading rebounder at 7.5 per game. If Orlando is going to win the NBA Cup, Wagner will need to continue playing at an extremely high level.
As for the Bucks, their season has not been all sunshine and rainbows. They dug themselves a hole starting the season with a 4-9 record but have since turned things around. They are now back over .500 and are playing much better basketball now that the NBA Cup tournament started.
The Bucks went 4-0 in pool play games with wins over the Raptors, Pacers, Heat and Pistons while having a +50 point differential. The Bucks won three out of those four pool play games by at least 12 points before having a dogfight between them and the Heat, where they won by three.
With no surprise, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo tied for the team lead in points per game throughout pool play with 29.3. They were two of the better players throughout all pool play, with Lillard averaging a double-double and Giannis being a menace on both ends of the court. The Bucks will have to continue to bring their A games if they want to get past the Magic.
These two teams have yet to meet up in the regular season thus far, as they do not play a regular season game against one another until after the first of the year.
With Paolo Banchero out with an injury, this Magic team relies heavily on Franz Wagner on the offensive end. But what has kept the Magic afloat so far this season is their defense. The Magic have the second-best defensive rating in all of the NBA. The length and size of each position really bother opposing teams. The Bucks are no slouches themselves and rank 13th in the league in defensive rating. The big difference between these two teams’ rankings comes on the offensive end. The Bucks are a top-10 team in offensive rating, while the Magic rank in the bottom-10 in the NBA.
With all that said, we believe it will be a slow, grinded-out game, causing the matchup to be low-scoring. One matchup we have our eyes on in particular is the point guard matchup between Damian Lillard and Jalen Suggs. Suggs is known to be a terrific defender, which we believe will cause some fits for the smaller Lillard. With all that noted, our pick is on Damian Lillard scoring fewer than 25 points against the Magic.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.