Lillard on his missed game-winning shot in Bucks’ 111-109 loss to Magic
Damian Lillard details what happened on his missed game-winning shot attempt in Bucks’ 111-109 loss to Magic on March 8, 2025.
The Milwaukee Bucks had their four-game winning streak snapped as the Orlando Magic reversed its recent bad fortune with a nearly wire-to-wire 111-109 victory Saturday night at Fiserv Forum. Milwaukee’s only lead of the game was 2-0 after Giannis Antetokounmpo scored the first basket.
It was a tough, physical night for the Bucks as Antetokounmpo played his most minutes (35) since Feb. 2 while Taurean Prince hit 40 minutes, Kyle Kuzma 39 and Lillard nearly 36 on the front end of a back-to-back.
Milwaukee hosts Cleveland, the best team in the East, Sunday night.
Damian Lillard misses game-winner
The Bucks nearly pulled off a big comeback win, as they trailed by 15 with just over eight minutes to go. All-star point guard Damian Lillard got to a big step-back, fall away, 25-foot three-pointer over an outstretched Magic defender to win the game, but the shot was wayward at the buzzer.
«Once I got into that space I made my mind up I was going to go for the win,» he said. «I got space, I just lost my balance a little bit. I think I got too deep, deeper than I wanted to. I just was trying to get him going downhill and then get back behind the line but when I got back behind the line I kind of was fighting against my body more than I would’ve liked to and I just got off balance.
«But that was it. Obviously you wish you can just get that last two seconds and get my feet and my body a little bit better and I still would take that shot. I just would’ve been able to guide myself a little bit better. I always say, being in that situation you gotta be able to willing to live with either way that it goes and you gotta be able to move on.»
An Antetokounmpo three-point play with 15.3 seconds left pulled the Bucks to 111-109 and then Prince forced Magic guard Cole Anthony to lose the ball out of bounds with 6.6 seconds to go.
AJ Green inbounded to Lillard, who curled around Antetokounmpo to get open, but he couldn’t find his balance to get a more settled shot. Head coach Doc Rivers felt the team’s spacing could have been better, but would always live with Lillard taking the final shot.
When asked about the play, Antetokounmpo paused to collect his thoughts.
«Yeah, you know, in that situation you gotta go to the guy that has been closing out games for us, that’s been doing this for awhile,» he began. «I tried to set the screen but I saw (Franz) Wagner kind of cheat the play, so I already did my job, so Dame had that separation he needed. And I tried to read the play, try get out of his way so he could operate. That’s pretty much it. I think it was a clean shot. I thought the ball was going in. Great look. Was close to winning the game if the ball had went in, right? We were down two, right?
«But OK. In a situation like that; did we have a time out?» (They did not.) «In a situation like that also I think I’m capable of taking the ball in the elbow and play one-on-one, try taking it myself. If they don’t, make something happen. But, it’s one or the other. But I’m cool. I’m cool with one of the best closers in the game taking that shot and I’ll have to; we all have to live with it.»
The battered Magic (30-35), led by head coach Jamahl Mosley, a Milwaukee native, had lost five in a row heading in, but Mosley said before the game his team was going to recapture its defensive intensity. It did that, making offense difficult all night for the Bucks, who dropped to 36-26.
Antetokounmpo led a furious fourth quarter rally once he re-entered the game, scoring 13 points and assisting on a big Prince three-pointer.
«We were able to get some stops, run, move the ball, ‘TP’ got some open threes, we were able to get downhill, get some energy,» Antetokounmpo said. «I feel like throughout the whole game they had more energy than us, they were more physical than us, bumping us off our spots.
«It was a matter of time for us to kind of get some momentum, get some energy, and when we did we were able to get back in the game. We had a chance to finish the game, but we didn’t. We didn’t. But we played good basketball. As much as it wasn’t pretty and it was sloppy and it was low-energy, we still were able to get back in the game and try to make something happen..»
Antetokounmpo finished with 37 points and 11 rebounds. Lillard finished with 26 points on 9 of 18 shooting, including a 4 of 9 mark from behind the three-point line.
Kevin Porter Jr. (12) and Prince (11) also reached double figures for Milwaukee.
Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 29 points and he and Franz Wagner (18 points) scored seven apiece in the fourth quarter to keep the Bucks just at arm’s length. Anthony had 22 points and was 4 of 6 from behind the three-point line.
Franz Wagner gets flagrant foul for pushing Giannis Antetokounmpo
With 5 minutes 35 seconds left in the first quarter Orlando forward Wagner shoved Antetokounmpo in the back as the Bucks’ star was about to jump for a lob pass from Prince, sending Antetokounmpo flying to the court. Prince didn’t appreciate it and rushed at Wagner, who was smiling throughout. It took a bit for Prince to finally be separated from the pile of players, coaches and security personnel, and even Antetokounmpo went over to say something to Wagner.
The play was immediately reviewed, and Wagner was assessed a Flagrant 1 for unnecessary contact. Prince was hit with a technical foul for escalating the situation.
Antetokounmpo made both of his free throws and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope drained the Magic free throw, giving Orlando a 17-8 lead at that moment.
Magic isolates, slows Bucks for most of game
Of the common threads that run through many of the Bucks worst offensive showings of this season, the thickest is when the team turns away from its ball-sharing, three-point shooting identity and turn into an isolation-heavy group.
Coach Doc Rivers, presciently, reiterated that fact before his team took on the Magic.
And then lo and behold the Bucks got tangled up from the opening minutes.
In a 47-point first half, the Bucks shot just 7 three-pointers (making two) and assisted on just six of their 19 made baskets. On balance, Antetokounmpo and Lillard are going to shoot and score the most – but the first half was too lopsided as the pair took 19 of the team’s 35 shots and scored 55% of the points.
«They switch. They switch everything,» Antetokounmpo said. «When you play against a team that switches everything, it’s hard. You gotta play more isolation basketball. You gotta have the mindset of driving and kicking, but sometimes when you have very, very talented players that take that individual challenge to take it themselves and sometimes the ball doesn’t move as much and it sticks. That’s pretty much it.»
Orlando made every basket count throughout the night, as the 6-foot-3-inch Anthony blocked the 7-foot Antetokounmpo twice around the basket, sending him to the court hard both times. Anthony Black blocked a Lillard step-back fadeaway. Bucks players who thought they had an open three would wind up double-clutching as as Magic defender closed hard.
«When you play against a team that switches you gotta keep on rolling hard,» Antetokounmpo said. «When you set it (the screen) and they switch you gotta take your guy away from the space so the guy that has the ball gotta see space and gotta be able to operate. We did it at times, but I think in the beginning of the game we didn’t and the ball stick more than it usually sticks.»
In the first half Orlando also forced eight Milwaukee turnovers, which led to 16 points. The Magic also scored 12 second-chance points, which helped them take a 60-47 lead into the break.
A 13-point lead is by no means insurmountable in the current NBA, but it took the Bucks until Antetokounmpo returned to action with nine minutes left in the game to rediscover their strengths. Ultimately it was still not enough.
«When a team is able to do that, it can just make you stagnant because it takes you out of sets,» Lillard said of the Magic’s defense. «Teams aren’t in coverages where you can cause a reaction from one guy’s in front of the ball, one guy’s trailing, somebody has to help when you in the pocket, when you throw it out somebody has to help. It’s harder to get a team in rotation and to just generate better offense. It kind of gets stuck playing one-on-one, being able to get you playing late into the clock and things like that. You just gotta be more creative.
«I thought the best way for us to help ourselves was to get more stops so we can get out and push it at ‘em before the defense was set. I thought that was what we did when we got back into the game. But you know, to start the game, we didn’t take that belief away. They saw shots go in, they started feeling good and any team in the league that you allow to start a game like that, especially a desperate team, it’s going to be a dogfight and that’s what we found ourselves in.»
Short-handed Bucks bench struggles
The new-look Bucks second unit – which usually features starters Kuzma and either Lillard or Prince – has provided a lift more often than not coming out of the all-star break. Offensively, Kuzma and Porter have been the engine while AJ Green (three-pointers) and Jericho Sims (dunks) have provided ancillary scoring. There have been more peaks than valleys with that group, with the most notable dip being a scoreless first six minutes of the fourth quarter in a loss at Houston.
Orlando gave that group nearly as many fits as Houston did, but the Magic made it very difficult for Kuzma and Porter to get things going – especially with Gary Trent Jr. out of action with a knee injury.
Trent is shooting 41% from behind the three-point line on the season, but he’s been on fire for the last month, averaging 13.5 points per game since Feb. 12. He was injured against Atlanta on March 4, however, and has missed the last two games.
(This doesn’t account for the absence of Bobby Portis Jr., who has been out since the all-star break due to a league suspension).
On Saturday, Rivers shortened his bench to just three (Porter, Green, Sims), and the bulk of the group checked in down 10 points late in the first quarter, and the deficit swelled to as many as 16 before they eventually whittled it down to nine when the starters checked back in late in the second quarter.
The majority of the group subbed back in with Lillard as usual late in the third down a dozen and trailed 90-76 after the quarter. Prince replaced Lillard to open the fourth, and though Antetokounmpo checked in earlier than normal (at the 9:12 mark of the fourth) but the Bucks were still down 13.
With the perennial MVP candidate back on the floor, the Bucks pulled within 97-95 when Lillard returned at the 6:02 mark.
5 numbers
3-1: Bucks record vs. the Magic this season. The teams split their four games a year ago.
7: Fourth-quarter assists by the Bucks after they handed out 10 in the first three.
Rivers: « We didn’t move the ball a lot. We gave in to a lot of their physicality. Their switches hurt us, we danced with the ball and it’s what we talked about before the game – when we do that we’re not very good.»
9-4: Bucks record in the first game of back-to-backs.
15: Three-pointers attempted by the Bucks in the second half after shooting just seven in the first.
61.5: Percent shooting from behind the three-point line in the first quarter for Orlando, which entered the game as the league’s worst shooting team from distance (30.6%). The hot start helped them take a 34-20 lead after one. They started 8-for-12 and then went 4-for-20 the rest of the game to shoot 37.5%. They did make one more three-pointer than the Bucks.
Rivers: «That doesn’t matter. They’re gonna take ‘em every game. And in games they make ‘em, then good for them. Today they made some. They got off to a great start, making everything. But, the mean comes back to the norm. They end up shooting 37% from the three-point line, which they may take. The problem was we didn’t take enough and we shot a high percentage – and they won in that number. Before the game thinking they would win the three-point shooting game, you would be surprised.»
Is Giannis playing?
Yes. The star has played eight straight games coming out of the all-star break. He was initially considered probable to play following practice on Friday, as he had been managing the after-effects of a left calf strain suffered on Feb. 5. But early on Saturday morning he felt ill and was considered questionable to suit up vs. the Magic.
What is the Bucks record without Giannis?
6-6.
What channel is the Bucks game on?
The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast locally on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin with Dave Koehn, former Marquette and Bucks player Wesley Matthews and Melanie Ricks on the call. Gabe Neitzel will fill in for Koehn on WTMJ Radio and the BMO Bucks Radio Network.
Bucks injury report
- Bobby Portis Jr., out (league suspension)
- Pat Connaughton, out (left calf strain)
- Pete Nance, out (left ankle sprain)
- Gary Trent Jr., out (right knee hyperextension)
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, available (non-COVID illness)
- Damian Lillard, available (left eye contusion)
Bucks starting lineup
- Guards: Damian Lillard, Taurean Prince
- Forwards: Kyle Kuzma, Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Center: Brook Lopez
Bucks vs. Magic odds, over/under
Milwaukee is a 6.5-point favorite over Orlando, and the over/under is set at 217.5 points.
