Bucks Stock Market: Milwaukee manages another win over the scrappy Orlando Magic
The Bucks made their games against the Magic closer than need be, but still sweep the season series.
The Bucks Stock Market is a fictitious market run by the GSPN crew that tracks player stock “movement” following the conclusion of every game. Here’s the spreadsheet logging the game-by-game results.
For the second straight game in three days, the Milwaukee Bucks could not totally dominate the shorthanded Orlando Magic. That’s okay — Milwaukee still got the win both times in the end (and moved to 13-1 against Orlando in the Budenholzer era). There’s randomness in the NBA like there is in any sport league — the better team does not win every single game, although the Bucks did manage to do that this week.
Jrue Holiday 📈
Rohan and I first talked about Jrue Holiday making a potential All-Star push when Khris Middleton entered protocols in early November. Basically ever since that point Jrue has been incredible, and he showed no signs of slowing down against the Magic. Jrue put up 25 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks in 33 minutes while shooting 8/11 from the field and 6/6 on free throws. This was essentially a perfect game, capped off by a wonderful alley oop to Giannis.
Giannis Antetokounmpo 📈
Now, for the other side of that amazing play. Giannis let the game come to him for three quarters, then decided to control everything about it in the fourth. Giannis poured in 16 points — nearly half of his total — in the final frame, and made it clear the Bucks would not be losing to the Orlando Magic this season despite their opponent playing scrappy and hard.
DeMarcus Cousins 📈
BOOGIE! DeMarcus Cousins’ value was perfectly summed up in this game: the defense wasn’t always great in his minutes (although he did manage a ferocious block) but whew boy the offense is off the charts. That’s been the story for Boogie all season, as the Bucks crush teams when he plays despite giving up more points than normal. When Milwaukee was unable to put together good offense in the third Boogie did it himself, scoring 13 of his 15 points while stringing together and-ones thanks to his physically dominating presence down low.
Wes Matthews 📈
Honestly I didn’t expect much from Wes Matthews when the Bucks first signed him, but he’s quickly established himself as a no-doubt closer thanks to his still-stout defense, seamless fit with the squad, and a surprisingly hot touch from outside. Wes played more minutes than any other bench player in the win and put up 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and made 3 of his 5 threes. If he can continue making the treys at a high clip, Wes is going to be a mainstay in clutch time lineups.
Khris Middleton 📈
Khris has not gotten enough love on these Bucks Stock Market posts, but we’re fixing that here. This was not an excellent Khris game but it was a damn good one as he posted 22 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal. The most encouraging two things about Khris lately are his aggressiveness as a ball-handler, and that his shot is starting to fall more often: Money Middleton cashed in on 3 of his 7 attempted threes.
The Bucks don’t play again until next year — they have an early home tip against the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday at 5:30 Central.