The road to Las Vegas and the semifinals and final of this year’s NBA Cup has become considerably less crowded. After completing the NBA Cup group stage, the bracket is set for the quarterfinals with eight remaining teams.
Among those quarterfinals is a fascinating matchup between two Eastern Conference foes who appeared to be headed in drastically different directions for a stretch early in the season.
However, the Milwaukee Bucks have reversed course and are surging up the standings just in time to find a route to Las Vegas for the final four of the NBA Cup. The Orlando Magic, meanwhile, has overcome an injury to star player Paolo Banchero and remained one of the league’s most improved teams, led by their absolutely relentless defense.
With a highly intriguing regular season matchup and an NBA Cup quarterfinal between two Eastern Conference opponents on the schedule this Tuesday in Wisconsin, check out our Magic vs. Bucks predictions, including our NBA expert picks, with tip set for December 10 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Matchup Magic vs Bucks Overview
Teams: Orlando Magic vs. Milwaukee Bucks
Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Fiserv Forum
Win Probabilities
The prediction tip for the winner in the game between the Orlando Magic and the Milwaukee Bucks is the Milwaukee Bucks.
Expert Prediction: Who Wins?
After 10 games of the 2024-25 NBA season, the Milwaukee Bucks were teetering. Worse, even, they were on the brink. They had started the season 2-8, with two losses to the Eastern Conference heavyweights, the Boston Celtics, in that 10-game stretch.
Damian Lillard’s disinterested approach had carried over from the previous season, as did Khris Middleton’s slowly deteriorating body. Doc Rivers, as usual, was overmatched, and the roster was flawed. Worst of all, your favorite NBA podcasters were firing up the trade machine and moving their cursor over the name of Giannis Antetokounmpo. The superstar who had done it without chasing glory and fame suddenly appeared to be barrelling toward a trade request.
And, yet, somehow, the Bucks pulled themselves out of that spiral. More than that, they regained altitude and now find themselves cruising comfortably. Since that 10-game mark, Milwaukee’s 9-2 and is seeing some of the best play of Antetokounmpo’s career. The Bucks remain flawed, but they resemble the flawed title contender led by a top-two NBA player we expected more closely.
The Bucks’ defense largely remains limited due to an absence of competent perimeter defenders. Yet, thanks to Giannis’ tremendous defensive impact and partnership with Brook Lopez down low, they’ve eked their way to an above-average unit. Milwaukee’s crept into the league’s top half in adjusted defensive rating and, thanks to its size inside, can be a legitimate difficult matchup with certain teams.
Offensively, you can see slight inklings of Bucks offenses of the past — the ones that routinely ranked at the top of the league under Mike Budenholzer, powered by incredible efficiency. That’s because, whether sustainable or not, Milwaukee’s rediscovered an old combo: Giannis single-handedly dragging a team to good efficiency while being flanked by competent shooting.
Antetokounmpo’s numbers are outrageous so far this year, but for their part, the team as a whole has shot it really well. Milwaukee’s hung around the top five in true shooting percentage, and Middleton still has one of its best and most efficient shooters to return.
With a hyperefficient offense and Middleton’s looming return, it takes one strong defense to adequately matchup with the Bucks — enter the Orlando Magic.
Orlando’s identity from the 2023-24 season has carried into this one, with a hounding defense guaranteed in matchups with the Magic. Incredibly, the Magic have done this with center Wendell Carter Jr. in and out of the lineup and Paolo Banchero — not an elite defender by any means, but certainly a big-bodied and switchable one — out since the end of October.
The Magic have been insulated from any slippage with Jalen Suggs and Jonathan Isaac, two of the 10 best pound-for-pound defenders in the NBA. They’re a top-three team in adjusted defensive rating and have the type of rangy defenders that can at least make Antetokounmpo work incredibly hard for his nearly guaranteed production.
The notion of making life hard for Antetokounmpo will be vital because the Magic simply cannot survive if they have to go bucket-for-bucket with the Bucks. Without Banchero, the Magic’s offense has cratered to unbelievable levels. They’re a bottom-five offense by adjusted rating and are in the bottom 10 in true shooting percentage. It is deeply worrying that they have sunk to such a level, even while getting such an impressive season from Franz Wagner.
It also means the Magic have an incredibly tough test ahead of them. Without Banchero, Orlando’s outfit is such a one-sided one that this kind of matchup is concerning. A lockdown defense can only do so much against high-level efficiency from shooters, and that’s what the Bucks can fall back on.
The outlook of this game favors the Bucks, strictly in a basketball sense. The big picture, too, favors Milwaukee. Some may not care about the NBA Cup—players and teams included—but now that we’ve reached the quarterfinals, there will be buy-in. The chance at a morale boost, in the form of an NBA Cup victory, and the financial gain available to each player will ramp up the intensity.
Expect the veteran Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo to turn it on and get past the youthful Magic in a one-game clash that could see postseason intensity. In doing so, Milwaukee will punch its ticket to Las Vegas and the semifinal of the NBA Cup.
How to Make Orlando Magic vs. Milwaukee Bucks Picks
Ready to make picks on the Orlando Magic vs. Milwaukee Bucks matchup on Tuesday, December 10? Make sure to head over to Sportzino, where you can find every NBA game on the slate this weekend and so much more!
