Milwaukee Bucks @ Orlando Magic

After a tough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Orlando Magic will look to get back on the right track when they host a team they’ve had a lot of success against this season, the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks entered the fourth quarter of Friday’s game with the Atlanta Hawks with an 11-point lead, but were outscored 34-18 in the final period, losing 99-94. The loss dropped the Bucks to 14-22 while the Magic enter with a record of 23-14.

This is the fourth and final meeting between these two squads, with all four games coming in a three-week span. The Magic rallied to defeat the Bucks in the first three games this season. Orlando fell behind by 10 on February 11 but rode Jason Richardson’s hot hand (31 points) to a 99-94 victory. On the 17th of February, the Magic scored the game’s final 17 points, defeating Milwaukee 94-85 behind 26 points and 20 rebounds from Dwight Howard. Then, on February 20, the Magic again rallied to defeat the Bucks 93-90.

The Magic rank 13th in offensive rating (104.0), 12th in defensive rating (101.5) and play at the league’s third-slowest pace (89.3). The Bucks are 17th in offensive rating (102.9), 22nd in defensive rating (105.4) and play at the eighth-fastest pace (92.3).

Tip-off from the Amway Center is scheduled for 7:00 pm EST and will be shown locally on FS Florida and nationally on NBA TV.

As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can listen on the radio – in English on AM 580 WDBO and FM 96.5 and in Spanish on AM 1270 WRLZ.

The officials for tonight’s game are Zach Zarba, Nick Buchert and Derrick Collins.

The Line: Orlando – 9 .0 (189.5u)

Starters:

Milwaukee Bucks

Drew Gooden
Ersan Ilyasova
Tobias Harris
Carlos Delfino
Brandon Jennings

Orlando Magic

Dwight Howard
Ryan Anderson
Hedo Turkoglu
Jason Richardson
Jameer Nelson

Hey, it’s Milwaukee and Orlando again!

Seriously? Again?

Big man Drew Gooden, who played very well against the Magic earlier this season (21 points, eight rebounds on February 11), missed the last two games against the Magic, with a wrist injury. Gooden has played three games since his return and has been excellent, going for 21.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

In three games against Milwaukee, Dwight Howard has averaged 21.7 points and 16.7 rebounds per game, but had just 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting (and 14 rebounds) in their first meeting.

Ersan Ilyasova has been fantastic. His numbers don’t show it (10.8 ppg, 8.7 rpg), but he’s seen a dramatic increase as of late and has averaged 15.3 points and 13.7 rebounds per game against the Magic.

Brandon Jennings, Milwaukee’s leading scorer (18.3 ppg), has really struggled against Orlando. Point guards have had a lot of success against the Magic, but they’ve kept Jennings out of the paint and made him settle for tough jumpers (as he’s often prone to do). Jennings is averaging just 14.3 points per game and shooting 30.2% from the field against the Magic this season.

Bucks center Andrew Bogut remains out with an ankle injury. He’s played just 12 games this season.
Stephen Jackson (sore right hamstring) and Mike Dunleavy (personal reasons) missed Friday’s loss to the Hawks.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute played through a back injury Friday.

Bucks Resources:

Behind The Buck Pass
Brew Hoop
Bucksketball
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, ESPN Florida’s Magic Insider (http://ESPNFlorida.com) and is the co-host of the ESPNFlorida.com Insiders Show Sunday mornings at 10:00 am EST. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him onTwitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here)