The Orlando Magic’s fourth game against the Milwaukee Bucks was more of the same, as they were beaten by the Eastern Conference’s leader, 112-95. 

With the loss, Orlando (22-31) has lost all four meetings against Milwaukee (45-7) this season. If the season were to end today, the two teams would play each other in the first round of the playoffs.  

“You have to play well,“ Magic head coach Steve Clifford said. “You want to understand that you’re playing for something and we have a chance to be a playoff team, but you do that by playing well and that’s what your focus should be on every day… You don’t worry about the sixth, seventh, eighth [seed], you worry about playing well.” 

Giannis Antetokoumpo was held below his season average of 30.2 points with just 19. Despite the below-average night by his circumstances, the rest of the Bucks starting lineup pitched in by scoring in double-digits. Brook Lopez led all scorers with 23 points and Khris Middleton scored 21 and had 13 rebounds. 

Nikola Vucevic turned in a solid performance for the Magic, scoring 21 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double. Terrence Ross had a big game off the bench with 20 points. 

The Magic have now lost eight out of their last nine games. 

One key difference in the game was each team’s ability to make threes. Orlando only made 10 of their 40 threes while the Bucks made 15 of their 39.

“To beat them, you got to make open threes,” Clifford said. “Obviously, we shot the ball very poorly from range and we had some wide-open ones. If we’re going to beat them as good as they are, we’re gonna have to make threes.”