MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — Bobby Portis had 30 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five steals to help the Milwaukee Bucks withstand Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence and overpower the Orlando Magic 117-99 on Wednesday night.

The Magic fell to 46-34 and into fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings after the Cleveand Cavaliers defeated the Mempbis Grizzlies 110-99 on Wednesday night. They are now tied with the Indiana Pacers record-wise, but Orlando holds the tiebreaker. Orlando has lost two in a row to teams playing on fan appreciation nights, their final home games of the regular season, and three of four overall as it tries to earn one of the Eastern Conference’s top six seedings and avoid falling into the play-in competition. The Magic have lost one spot in playoff positioning for each of its past two losses. Orlando is chasing its first playoff berth since 2020 and only its third since 2012.

Orlando visits Philadelphia on Friday and hosts Milwaukee on Sunday in its final two regular-season games. If Philadelphia wins Friday's game, Orlando could fall into the No. 7 spot in the East, which is in the play-in. The 76ers have not lost since Joel Embiid returned from knee surgery.

Milwaukee (49-31) is 1-1/2 games ahead of the New York Knicks (47-32) and two games ahead of Cleveland (47-33) in the race for the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 playoff seeding behind the Boston Celtics, who already have clinched the NBA’s best regular-season record.

The Bucks played a night after Antetokounmpo left a 104-91 victory over the Celtics because of a strained left calf. They announced Wednesday that the two-time MVP would miss the final three games of the regular season, though his availability for the start of the playoffs remains uncertain.

“No timeline or anything like that, but we’ve got the best team working with him,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said before the game. “There’s no one who’s going to work harder than him. You know that. He’ll be back when he should be back. We’ll find out when that is.”

Damian Lillard had 29 points and eight assists for the Bucks, who improved to 4-3 in games Antetokounmpo has missed this season. Jae Crowder scored 14 points off the bench. Pat Beverley had 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Cole Anthony scored 23 points, Paolo Banchero added 20 and Jalen Suggs had 18 for the Magic. They were the only Magic players to score in double figures. Orlando’s Franz Wagner missed a second game in a row with a sprained right ankle.

The Magic scored the first five points of the game, but the Bucks answered with a 7-0 run. Although the Magic tied the score a couple of times in the next 2-1/2 minutes, they never led again.

They could not stop Portis. He had 24 points and four steals in the first half alone to help the Bucks grab a 64-50 lead at the break. In the first 1-1/2 quarters of the game, Orlando committed 10 turnovers, and the Bucks outscored the Magic 16-0 in points off turnovers.

The Bucks maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half.

Bucks reserve guard A.J. Green played 15 minutes before exiting with a sprained left ankle.

With the loss, the Magic dropped to 5-10 this season on the second night of back-to-back games.

Up next

Magic: At Philadelphia on Friday night.

Bucks: At Oklahoma City on Friday night.