After a splendid Game 1 defeat to eighth-seeded Orlando Magic, seeded Milwaukee Bucks has reconfigured his collective mentality.
They cannot fall into the external belief that they are the favorites of the NBA title, they concluded. They have to play with the advantage and sense of urgency of an up-and-coming team, an identity they maintained last season as the number 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, they determined.
That attitude permeated Games 2 and 3 against the Magic, both of which won in Milwaukee. Now the Bucks will aim to take a 3-1 lead in the series when the two teams face off for their fourth game on Monday afternoon at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando.
“There will be a lot of people out there who will say we could go (win a championship),” said Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. “But if we don’t go out and catch him, or if we don’t go out and play with a chip on our shoulder and play hard every second every possession of the game, it won’t happen. This is life. There is no way around that.
“So for me and for the team, it’s that we’re going to go out there and play hard. We won’t play like the favorites. We’ll play like the losers. We decided to do it and be us from the second game we played against Orlando. And, d ‘ now on, that’s what we’ll be until the end. “
It seems more and more that Orlando’s victory in Race 1 was just an aberration.
Since then, the defensive pressure from the Bucks has stifled the Magic for long stretches, leading to transition opportunities and easy buckets for the Bucks. Milwaukee racked up 50 paint points during Saturday’s 121-107 win, helping her build a 34-point lead in the second half.
“They were on us on every catch and pushed us out,” Orlando manager Steve Clifford said. “… We will need to be able to play harder, cut harder, shield better, make faster decisions. This is what we did in the first game, and that will give us a chance.”
Antetokounmpo is coming out of his most efficient game of the series, making 12 shots out of 14 in a 35-point performance. He also received a late push from fellow All-Star Khris Middleton, who scored 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists on Saturday after scoring just two points in Game 2.
“Everyone wanted him to be aggressive,” Middleton’s Antetokounmpo said. “Even if they double it, even if they triple it, we wanted it to be aggressive. We wanted it to pick up its pace …
“He got his 3 (in game 3). He got his 2. He made his moves. He’s happy to see Khris out there playing like that. We’ll need him. We need him now. We’ll need him. him in the future. “
Nikola Vucevic was Orlando’s reliable scorer, although he was less efficient in Game 3 (8 of 19 from the ground, 2 of 8 from 3 points) in his 20-point performance. Terrence Ross and DJ Augustin provided lifts off the bench.
But the Magic remained undermined throughout the series. Starting forward Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and guard Michael Carter-Williams (foot) have not played and their conditions for Game 4 are in the air.
“It definitely makes it harder,” Clifford said. “At the same time, however, in this league – and the players know it – those who are healthy must play as best they can. … We have to play better”.
– Field-level average
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