MILWAUKEE _ During past seasons as well as this one, the Milwaukee Bucks have had trouble taking care of the teams they should beat.
The Orlando Magic certainly fit into that category, riding a five-game losing streak into Wednesday night's contest as part of a 4-25 stretch since early November. To make things tougher for the Magic, the schedule-makers sent them to Milwaukee on the second game of a back-to-back while the Bucks were off on Tuesday.
During the first half, the Bucks displayed all the elements of a team playing down to its competition as they struggled to build a comfortable advantage. Then the third quarter happened, Giannis Antetokounmpo happened and the expected cushion appeared, with the Bucks building a 20-point lead on the way to a 110-103 win at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
The game got close down the stretch with the Bucks' bench in for much of the fourth quarter. That unit squandered much of the lead they inherited.
Antetokounmpo was the biggest contributor to that lead. After a solid first half in which he put up 13 points, Antetokounmpo looked even more aggressive after halftime.
He attacked early and often in the third quarter, making his first four shots along with a free throw to put up nine points in the first five minutes to push Milwaukee's advantage to double digits for the first time.
He ultimately doubled his total to 26 points by the end of the third quarter, leading the Bucks to an 89-69 advantage heading into the fourth.
While the Bucks were hitting their stride on offense, they also ground the Magic's scoring to near a halt. Orlando shot just 8 of 22 in the third quarter as Milwaukee's starters, which played nearly the full period, turned up the intensity on the defensive end.
They also essentially eliminated Magic leading scorer Aaron Gordon from the game, holding him to 0 of 12 shooting after Gordon made four of his six shots over the opening 9{ minutes of the game.
As a team, the Bucks finished with nine blocked shots and all five starters scored in double figures, with Khris Middleton (22) and Eric Bledsoe (15) following Antetokounmpo in scoring.
