As the Milwaukee Bucks prepare to take on the Orlando Magic in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, we revisit the first time both clubs met in the postseason.
The Milwaukee Bucks are set to begin their 2020 playoff run against the Orlando Magic, a first round series that will tip off Tuesday afternoon.
This won’t be the first time both clubs have met in the playoffs as we have to travel back nearly two decades ago to when the Bucks and the Magic had previously met in the postseason.
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Of course, such a look back requires revisiting the heights of the Bucks’ ‘Big 3′ era that was headlined by the likes of Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Glenn Robinson and head coach George Karl.
After having stormed to the second seed in the East following a strong run in the second half and finishing the 2000-01 regular season with a 52-30 record, the Bucks faced off against a seventh-seeded Magic team that was led by that year’s NBA Most Improved Player, Tracy McGrady.
But the Magic’s plan of having a dynamic duo between McGrady and then-superstar Grant Hill went down in flames due to Hill suffering a fractured ankle. That left McGrady to take on a massive load to lead the Magic to a 43-39 record on the season and quite an uphill climb against a Bucks team that finished the season with the best offense in the league.
Despite that, the Magic were determined to ruffle some feathers and act as a stick in the Bucks’ craw, setting up a war of words that would be aired and forth at one another over the length of the series. At the center of that were the coaches of both teams, Karl and the Magic’s Doc Rivers, who had become embroiled in a feud when Rivers first arrived in Orlando a year earlier.
It was Rivers, though, who shot first before the series began as he said the following to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel, and alluded to Karl being the coach of the Seattle SuperSonics team that arguably suffered the biggest first round upset in NBA history against the Denver Nuggets in the 1993 NBA Playoffs:
"“I’ve seen George’s first-round playoff history and we kind of like his first-round mishaps,” Magic Coach Doc Rivers said.”"
When pressed further about his icy relationship with Karl, Rivers furthers explained his confusion as why such squabbling began in the first place as the Los Angeles Times’ Mark Heisler recounted at the time:
"“George Karl must have taken something I said personal,” Rivers said, “but he didn’t want us to take personal what he said last year. You can’t have it both ways…“I have never questioned George Karl’s ability to coach. He’s been coaching in the playoffs for 11 years. In 10 years, I hope they say I can coach as good as George Karl. I just hope I’m not that insecure.”"
Karl, meanwhile, kept making things personal and drew issues with how he perceived Rivers skipping some so-called line to get the Magic coaching job over long-standing assistants:
"“It bothers me that Doc, with all of his style and spin, got a job coming right out of the TV booth,” Karl says.”"
Perhaps Rivers’ gamesmanship and efforts to rattle the Bucks’ psyche was an attempt to overshadow the fact that Milwaukee had swept the Magic in all four regular season clashes between two clubs and all were won by a total margin of 45 points.
Sure enough, the Bucks’ dominance over the Magic from their regular season meetings carried over into the start of the series as it was Milwaukee who took Game 1 with a 103-90 victory. It was a total team effort on the part of the Bucks, who were led by Scott Williams’ double-double performance (19 points, 16 rebounds), and had six players finish in double figures on the night.
But what was quickly becoming apparent, if it wasn’t already the focal point of slowing down the Magic, was the Bucks’ effort to limit McGrady from scoring at will as he had done all season long to that point. Still, McGrady’s game-high 35 points in Game 2 weren’t enough to even up the series as the Bucks came away with a 103-96 victory. The Bucks’ Big 3 combined to score 67 of their 103 points on the night.
Yet one critical contributor from the Bucks’ core, that being Glenn Robinson, had been playing well below his All-Star standard through that point in the series. And being the primary cover on him for much of the series, McGrady made sure to rattle Robinson’s proverbial cage following the Magic’s Game 2 loss as L. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated recounted:
"“Citing Robinson’s ineffectual play in this series, McGrady suggested the Big Dog be rechristened Big Puppy. “Has he been locked down or what?” McGrady then asked.”"
With the series shifting over to Orlando, it was in Game 3 where McGrady would have his shining moment after having led the Magic to a 121 -116 overtime victory with a 42-point performance to push the series to 2-1 in favor of the Bucks.
It was during Game 3 where the testiness between both sides bore out on the court with some altercations and plenty of trash talk in a hotly contested contest that featured 14 lead changes. The game wouldn’t have even gone into overtime if not for Ray Allen’s famous clutch, rip-roaring dunk that helped even the game at 110 and cap off regulation. But Milwaukee’s offense cooled off in the extra period and opened the door for the Magic to stay alive for one more game.
The Bucks, though, managed to prevent the series from shifting back over to Milwaukee in what ended up being a cathartic 112-104 Game 4 victory down in Orlando. That even came after the Bucks climbed their way from a 16-point deficit early on in the second quarter.
Again, Milwaukee’s ‘Big 3’ was at the center of their series-clinching Game 4 victory with Allen, Cassell and Robinson combining for 68 of the team’s 112 points on the night. And it certainly helped to go to the foul line as much as they did as they converted 36 of their 47 free throw attempts. In fact, the Bucks attempted 52 more free throws than the Magic over the length of the series and that certainly caught the attention of Magic players.
After plenty of bluster and jabs, both spoken and physical, traded back and forth, the Bucks finally broke their playoff series drought that had stood for 12 long years. And for that, Robinson concluded the he and the Bucks had the last word over the Magic:
"“Whoever wins the series has the last word, and we get the last word,” said Robinson, aka Big Dog. “Dog got the last word.”"
We know the rest of the story when it comes to the remainder of the Bucks’ playoff run that year and how it still stands the test of time nearly two decades later. But something tells me this upcoming Bucks-Magic first round series won’t be nearly as contentious.