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Eric WoodyardESPN
When the world viewed Orlando as heavy underdogs, Magic head coach Steve Clifford saw optimism entering Game 1 of their playoff matchup against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks may have closed as 13.5-point favorites over the Magic at Caesars Sportsbook, but were stunned after a 122-110 loss Tuesday.
Orlando’s victory tied for the third-largest playoff upset point spread wise in the last 20 seasons, according to ESPN Stats and Information.
“In the NBA and especially this year where there’s no home court. I don’t think any team is as organized as they normally would be and guys aren’t as in rhythm,” Clifford said before the tip-off. “There’s going to be or there’s a good chance that there will be a couple of first-round upsets and I think our guys have the right mentality that if we play our best, we can make it hard on them and give themselves a chance and it’s a great opportunity for us.”
The Magic led by as many as 18 points with Nikola Vucevic lighting up the Bucks for a playoff career-high 35 points and 14 rebounds on 15-for-24 shooting without a free-throw. Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo ended with 31 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists with five personal fouls, but the Bucks shot just 43.3 percent overall as a team.
Aaron Gordon (strained left hamstring) and Michael Carter-Williams (strained left foot tendon) were also both out for the Magic. Despite sweeping the regular season matchup, 4-0, by an average of 17 points, Milwaukee trailed by 13 points entering the 4th quarter after opening the game extremely flat.
Bucks guard George Hill felt that “everyone was too comfortable out there.”
“It’s tough. You’re in your room all day, you don’t have your family here,” Hill said of playing in the bubble. “I think all year we’ve been thriving off our home fans so we don’t have those guys behind us. It’s basically in a gym just playing open gym so it’s new to us. We haven’t figured it out yet, but when you get hit in the mouth today, you’ve got to figure it out to get back up and throw that next punch. So, we’re gonna watch film tomorrow, figure it out as a team and be better next game.”
Before this latest loss, the 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks were the last team to have the best record during the regular season and lose their opening playoff game in the postseason. The Mavericks went 67-15 that season, but lost Game 1 of their first-round series against the Golden State Warriors and ended up losing the series in six games.
This marked the second straight year a title contender has lost to the Magic in their playoff opener. Last year the 2-seed Raptors did it, but rebounded to win the series in 5, and a title. The Raptors were 9.5-point favorites in Game 1 of that series while the 1-seed Bucks were 13.5-point favorites today.
The Magic had a .452 win percentage and won Tuesday’s game against the Bucks. That is lowest regular-season win percentage by a team to win their first playoff game of a postseason since the Hawks in 1966 vs the Bullets. The Hawks had a .450 win percentage.
“We all believe we can win this series, but we have to take it one game at a time,” Clifford said. “Tonight, the effort was good, but now we have to adjust and get ready for the next one.”