NBA Cup Quarterfinals Lines: Bucks vs Magic Expert Analysis – MyBookie NBA Picks

The first set of NBA Cup quarterfinals games is Tuesday night, and in the Eastern Conference the No. 4 Orlando Magic visit the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks for a spot in the semifinals.

The Bucks are solid favorites on the NBA odds as the Magic are missing two key players.

Orlando Magic Cup Lines +143

Orlando is without two of the best big men in the Eastern Conference in former NBA Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Banchero hasn’t played since Oct. 30 due to a right torn oblique and isn’t particularly close to a return. Wagner had been carrying the load since then for the most part but he went down also with a torn right oblique on Saturday and won’t even be re-evaluated for a month.

Franz Wagner

In 25 games this season, Wagner has averaged 24.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.7 steals in 33.2 minutes, with a 31.1% usage rate. All of those numbers are career highs, and his 57.3% true shooting percentage is virtually the same as it was with a much smaller offensive load last season. In the four weeks before he will be re-evaluated, the Magic play 11 games, 12 should they advance to the NBA Cup Final. This is the first significant injury of Wagner’s career — same as Banchero. Wagner had missed only 15 games in his three previous NBA seasons. Banchero had missed 12 before his torn oblique.

The NBA's only remaining undefeated team at home…

The @OrlandoMagic!

🪄🪄🪄🪄🪄🪄🪄🪄🪄🪄 pic.twitter.com/f06AryWIfg

— NBA (@NBA) December 9, 2024

The Best Scorers

Jalen Suggs and Moritz Wagner have been the Magic’s next-best scorers behind Wagner in recent weeks and will be asked to take on additional scoring responsibilities. On Sunday, the Magic beat visiting Phoenix, 115-110, to improve to 10-0 at home this season. Even after making 11 of their first 18 3-point shots and leading by as many as 12, the Suns faded in the fourth quarter (seven turnovers) and lost for the ninth time in 10 games without the injured Kevin Durant.

Jalen Suggs

Suggs led all scorers with 26 points and added four rebounds and two assists. He’s notched double-digit points in all of his last seven games, averaging 19.1 points, 4.6 assists, 2.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 2.7 three-pointers per contest through this stretch. Suggs has scored in double figures 21 times, 20+ points seven times and 30+ points once, including a career-high 31 points on Nov. 27 vs. Chicago.

Goga Bitadze

Bitadze produced 21 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. against a Suns team without rebounding machine Jusuf Nurkic (thigh) to protect the rim. Bitadze has stayed in Orlando’s starting lineup despite Wendell Carter Jr. recently returning to the fold in the frontcourt, with Bitadze averaging 11.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.2 steals in 26.9 minutes per contest over his last six games. Rookie Tristan Da Silva started for the injured Franz Wagner and had eight points and five rebounds.

Orlando is 7-9 on the road this season and has finished above .500 on the road five times in franchise history, with its best record being 27-14, done in both 2007-08 and 2008-09. The Magic are 11-6 this season in games decided by 10 points-or-more. Those 11 wins by 10+ points are tied for third-most in the NBA. Orlando is also 5-1 in games decided by five points-or-less. The Magic are shooting .452 (from the floor and shot 50 percent-or-better six times (5-1 record). Since the 2019-20 season, Orlando is 71-11 (.866) when shooting 50 percent-or-better from the field.

The Magic finished NBA Cup group play with a 3-1 record in East Group A and advanced to the quarterfinals as the East Wild Card.

Milwaukee Bucks Cup Lines -204

The Bucks snapped a two-game skid with a 118-113 win in Brooklyn on Sunday. The Nets led 108-104 after Dennis Schroder’s jumper with 3:08 left, but Milwaukee countered by scoring 15 of the game’s final 20 points. Bucks forward Khris Middleton, playing in just his third game this season while recovering from bilateral ankle surgery, scored seven points in the fourth quarter. Bobby Portis put Milwaukee ahead for good, 109-108, with a 3-pointer with 2:08 left.

Bobby Portis

Portis finished with 23 points on 9-for-10 shooting and 5-for-5 from deep along with five rebounds. leading all bench players in scoring and rebounds while finishing as one of three Bucks players with 20 or more points. Portis, who also tallied a team-high-tying trio of blocks, set season-high marks in both scoring and shots made from three. He has now surpassed the 20-point mark in three outings, with two of those coming in a bench role.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Antetokounmpo totaled 34 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks dealing with some knee discomfort leading into the contest, leading the way for Milwaukee in scoring, rebounds and blocks. Antetokounmpo has posted at least 30 points and 10 boards in 13 outings this season, including in four of his last five contests.

Sunday was his 21st straight game with at least 20 points on a minimum of 50% shooting from the field. That’s the third-longest streak in NBA history behind 25 in a row from Shaquille O’Neal in March 2001 and Zion Williamson in 2021. Giannis is averaging a league-best and career-high 32.5 points along with 11.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists on 61.1% (fifth in league) from the field.

Damian Lillard

Lillard had an off game with just 15 points on 2-for-7 shooting. Lillard turned the ball over seven times and was -11. Middleton came off the bench to begin the game but closed it out for the second straight game and had 11 points and six assists. Gary Trent added a season-high 20 off the bench.

The Bucks shot a season-high 57.4% from the field to improve to 7-1 this season when shooting at least 50%. That’s the second-best winning percentage in the league.

“Today, there was no hero ball,” Antetokounmpo said after Sunday’s win. “The ball was moving. Every shot that Bobby or Khris had was either from a defensive play or it was from a swing, swing, swing or it was from a double-team pass. So, that’s more team basketball and I felt like we had better energy. We have better energy when we play that way.”

A week of wild assists.

🏀: @BMO_US pic.twitter.com/Wo4pg0osfx

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 9, 2024

The Bucks (12-11) struggled out of the gate this season, prompting questions of whether Antetokounmpo would ask out. But after a 2-8 start, they’ve won 10 of 13. Milwaukee and New York are the only two clubs to have reached the quarterfinals of this competition now in each of the first two years.

How to Bet NBA Cup Quarterfinals Lines

When: Tuesday, 7 PM ET
Where: Fiserv Forum
TV: TNT
Stream: TNT app
Radio: Tunein.com

Magic vs Bucks Series History

First meeting of the season. Orlando is 55-73 all-time vs. Milwaukee (39-26 at home, 16-47 on the road) during the regular season, including 2-2 last season. The Magic have lost 25 of the last 31 matchups overall and nine of their past 11 at home in the series. Current Orlando President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman spent five seasons as assistant GM with the Bucks from 2008-13.

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