Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ 111-96 Game 2 win over Orlando Magic – The best defense
At long last, the Bucks’ vaunted defense for the last two seasons running finally made its long overdue appearance in the bubble.
Milwaukee’s Game 2 victory over the Magic was led by their absolutely terrorizing defensive play that served as the backbone to their return to form. That was seen by the way in which they made the Magic work hard for multiple offensive possessions and forced tough shots right away from the opening tip.
By holding the Magic to such a horrific shooting performance, the Bucks got back to to doing what they did best, that being protecting the paint by allowing 24 opposing paint points and letting the Magic live in mid-range and jack up misses from the perimeter.
Per NBA.com/stats, the 91.4 defensive rating the Bucks posted was the first time they held an opponent under a point per possession while in the bubble. And with Orlando compiling a 38.3 effective field goal percentage on the night, that stands as the third-lowest mark the Bucks have compiled this year, both regular season and postseason combined.
The engagement, relentlessness and overall effort we saw from all players on the court was unsurprisingly a point of emphasis for head coach Mike Budenholzer between games and Antetokounmpo talked about that with Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the win:
"“He told us that if we want to win and we want to go far, if we want to be us we gotta play defense,” Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “We didn’t do that in the first game. I think everybody took that personally.”"
Orlando certainly took advantage of the Bucks’ aggressive defending by drawing 26 personal fouls and logging an incredible 31 free throw attempts on the day, which will stick in Budenholzer and his staff’s craw. But still the defensive improvements were a welcome sight to see after literal months.