Milwaukee Bucks hold off Orlando Magic to advance to NBA Cup semi-finals
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Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black drives for the basket against Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MILWAUKEE – It was a hard-fought battle, as Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 37 points to lead the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in a 114-109 home victory over the depleted but determined Orlando Magic in the quarter-finals of the NBA (National Basketball Association) Cup on Dec 10.
Damian Lillard scored 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and handed out nine assists for the Bucks, who overcame a hard-working Orlando team missing their injured stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.
“We fought for this one,” said Lillard, who added that the Bucks would be aiming to improve on their 2023 last-four defeat in the inaugural edition of the event when they head to Las Vegas for the semi-finals.
“We didn’t have the greatest experience there last year. So I think all of us are thinking (about) going back and finishing what we started last year and doing it right this time.”
Antetokounmpo added seven rebounds and blocked four shots for the Bucks, who reached the semi-finals of the in-season tournament for the second year in a row and will face either the New York Knicks or Atlanta Hawks for a place in the final.
Lillard threw down a dunk to put the Bucks up 108-107 with 32.6 seconds remaining, and after Orlando’s Jalen Suggs missed a three-pointer, he drilled a pair of free throws to push the Bucks’ lead to three points with 9.1 seconds left.
Antetokounmpo and Lillard each added a pair of free throws in the final seconds to seal the tough victory.
Asked about Lillard’s brilliant fourth-quarter takeover after the game, coach Doc Rivers offered a simple explanation: “That’s just Dame being Dame.”
Suggs scored a career-high 32 points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Magic, who got off to an aggressive start on the way to a 33-25 lead after one quarter.
He had three of the Magic’s seven steals in the first period as Orlando made life difficult for the off-balance Bucks.
Milwaukee recovered to lead 60-59 at half-time after Lillard found Antetokounmpo for an alley-oop dunk that capped a 7-0 Bucks run to end the first half.
After four lead changes in the third quarter, the Bucks took an 80-72 lead into the final period, but they would swop the lead four more times before the Bucks finally put it away.
In the later game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks 118-104 in a mouth-watering Western quarter-final clash.
Oklahoma City guard Gilgeous-Alexander led with 39 points, while Dallas star Doncic finished with just 16.
The quarter-finals will conclude on Dec 11 (Dec 12, Singapore time), when the Knicks host the Hawks and the Houston Rockets welcome the Golden State Warriors.
The semi-finals will be played on Dec 14 in Las Vegas, where the final will be held on Dec 17. AFP
