Game 2 looked more like the first 10 months (honestly, we are like 10 months in) of the season than it looked like Game 1. This is something to keep in mind for future Game 1s. Anyway, the Bucks looked mostly like the Bucks, which is the key to the whole thing, and so they won, which they have done more than any team in the NBA this year, and they won by 15, which… they have done more than any team in the NBA this year.
Here are a few numbers about that.
30. The Magic bench scored 30 points in the game. The Bucks’ bench scored 30 points in the first half. And all six Bucks who came off the bench in the first half helped, notably Connaughton (12) and Korver (9).
11. But also, Donte, who got back to doing Donte things, not just the 11 points in 11 minutes.
4–8. Brook finished up the bubble re-start on one of the best stretches of his career in terms of hitting threes, but then went 0–4 in Game 1. He got back to it in Game 2, hitting their first three of the game, and hitting the one that keep the game out of reach late, to push it to 108–94.
4. All four of those Brook threes, by the way, were from the right corner.
3. Brook, though, we know, is not in this for personal gain. That is typically evidenced most clearly by his modest personal rebounding numbers. In Game 2 he led the team in shots contested and box outs and probably some other things that are not numbered.
32. This night was coming up all Connaughton. So when he had the ball from 32 feet out, when the shot clock ticking toward 5, 4… he squared up and naturally it went down as the purest swish of the game.
34.8%. Meanwhile, the Bucks held the Magic to 34.8% shooting from the field, and you can debate how much they held the Magic relative to how much the Magic just missed shots, but the defense was re-engaged from the tip, and the best defense in the league looked the part most of the night.
1. All 11 Bucks who played made a hoop, and it felt it. That includes Middleton, who made a hoop, which might work out okay.
42–24. The Bucks were the most dominant team in the league in paint in the regular season, and after only outscoring the Magic 42–38 in the paint in Game 1, they took back control in Game 2, outscoring the Magic 42–24.
0:16. The Magic led 5–4, for 16 seconds. The Bucks spent more than 75% of the game up by double-digits.
