After recent rough stretch, Bucks have risen to the occasion with big wins over Celtics, Magic

On March 24 the Milwaukee Bucks put together arguably their best win of the season, stomping the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder by 25 points. The Thunder never had a chance, scoring 93 points as the Bucks did what they wanted, when they wanted.

On Tuesday the Bucks put together another impressive victory in running out to a 24-point halftime lead on the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics – and even without Giannis Antetokounmpo for roughly the final 16 minutes of play – won convincingly. The Celtics never really had a chance, scoring 91 points.

“I mean, we know we can do it,” Khris Middleton said. “I think I can say that.”

In-between?

Oy.

Milwaukee went 1-6, including a four-game losing streak.

To begin that stretch the Bucks blew a 12-point lead with under six minutes left to lose in double overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers on March 26. They were never really in the game in New Orleans on March 28, then lost to three of the worst teams in the NBA in Washington, Memphis and Toronto. They capped it by blowing an 11-point fourth quarter lead against New York on April 7.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Pat Connaughton wondered where some of the joy in playing had gone. Head coach Doc Rivers spoke of a heaviness around the team in that stretch.

“I mean, we’re getting our ass kicked for about a week now, so, it’s gonna be like that,” Jae Crowder said matter-of-factly at Tuesday morning’s shootaround before the win over Boston. “That’s natural. Come in here and smiling and be happy about losing as many game as we lost to the teams that we lost to? It’s not gonna happen.

"So, we’re human. We’re a team who knows what the expectations are and we’re trying, we’re trying to put our best foot forward. But the same time we understand we’ve had a pretty (expletive) week of basketball as a unit. So, it’s not going to be fun and games. It’s not going to be light room.”

What should have been a sunnier locker room Tuesday night was clouded by Antetokounmpo’s soleus muscle injury, but there was a good feeling about not only handling the Celtics but by putting them away after their star went out.

So…what about those games between the Thunder and Celtics?

“Maybe we’re playing at the level of our competition, which is something you can’t do,” Middleton acknowledged. “If you want to be a great team you have to be great all the time. I think that’s something we have to focus on and try to figure out. I mean, once the playoffs come every team is great so hopefully we rise to the occasion.”

In search of finding that high tide against Boston, Rivers put another navigator on the court by moving point guard Pat Beverley into the starting lineup. That meant Malik Beasley came off the bench. AJ Green played roughly the same minutes as Pat Connaughton. Crowder didn’t play at all.

But on Wednesday against Orlando, Rivers didn’t have Antetokounmpo or Middleton.

So, which Bucks were going to show up?

On paper, it was clear the Bucks’ intensity level should remain high. The win over Boston was nice, but that spate of uneven play over a two-week period but them perilously close to losing homecourt advantage of their own.

And the youthful, ascending Magic had everything to play for under head coach and Milwaukee native Jamahl Mosley. Positioned just two games behind the Bucks in the loss column in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Magic could conceivably leapfrog the Bucks with a win Wednesday and in the regular-season finale Sunday in Orlando.

So without two of his Big Three, Rivers surrounded Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez with Beverley, Beasley and Bobby Portis in the starting lineup. Crowder came off the bench with Connaughton and Green, and that tight eight-man rotation came out and matched the springy Magic with playoff-like, physical intensity. Then, late in the third, rookie Andre Jackson Jr. came in with fresh legs to keep that level up.

If Mo Wagner was going to hard foul Connaughton, Beasley was going to contest Jalen Suggs at the rim. If Paolo Banchero wanted to throw a shoulder into a post move, Portis was going to do the same. Because if the group of players Rivers had surrounding Lillard and Lopez weren’t necessarily “all-stars,” they definitely were going to put in an all-out effort.

And did they, holding the Magic to a paltry 89 points while forcing 15 turnovers until the Orlando starters were pulled with 3 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the game.

"I think it's a builder for us," Lillard said of taking the last two games. "It gives us even more confidence to know that we can kind of deal with a storm like we dealt with leading up to these two games and then come out of it and not just win 'em, but win 'em even with guys down and be able to come together and get it done. I think moving forward, it just shows the layers to our team. It's not just who we have here physically, but mentally what we're able to do."

The Bucks once again proved they can do it.

The key going forward is being able to continue to rise to the occasion.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks have risen to the occasion with big wins over Celtics, Magic