3 things to watch as Milwaukee Bucks travel to face Orlando Magic

Coming off of arguably their most fun win of the season, the Milwaukee Bucks are back on the road to take on the Orlando Magic. The Bucks are the closest they’ve been to full health all season, are on a three-game win streak, and are starting a stretch of five games against teams outside of the play-in, so there’s an opportunity to bank some wins.

It starts tonight against the Magic, who the Bucks have played twice already and won both of those games. If you remember, those two games are when the Bucks found their rhythm and were wins number three and four of their eventual eight-game win streak.

They will also stay in Orlando to play the Magic again on the 30th, which will conclude their season series with them. Orlando, more than most teams, has been hit hard with players out of the lineup due to COVID protocols, so it remains to be seen exactly who will be out there, but regardless, the Bucks will be the heavy favorite.

How much will Donte DiVincenzo play over the next two games for the Milwaukee Bucks?

I’m going to use this to cover the next couple of games for Donte DiVincenzo since it will be against the same team, in the same location, with a day off in between.

He made his much-anticipated return on Christmas Day and showed that he wasn’t all that rusty on the defensive side of the ball, but that his offense could take a couple of games to round into form.

He played fewer than 16 minutes in his debut, which was about what should have been expected from him, especially after being in health and safety protocols for over a week. After a couple of days without a game as well as a day off in between games against the Magic, DiVincenzo should be out there for both games and it will be interesting how his minutes are managed.

The Bucks are notorious for taking things slow with recovery from injury (as they should be), but this is one of the first times a player has come off of surgery under head coach Mike Budenholzer.

If the Bucks play to their capabilities in both games, there will be ample garbage time for DiVincenzo to play live NBA action without the pressure of a close game so he can get his legs under him again.

We also can’t rule out the possibility of injury management for other players that could open up more minutes for DiVincenzo as well. I would say it’s safe to assume he plays around 35-40 minutes combined in the next couple of games, depending on availability, score, etc.

It’s been a long road back for DiVincenzo, so it’s simply nice to see him back and not miss a beat.