Jalen Suggs scores career night 32 points vs. Milwaukee Bucks

Jalen Suggs battled through bumps and bruises to score a career-high 32 points for the Orlando Magic in their 114-109 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday in the NBA Cup quarterfinal round.

The former Gonzaga standout exited with about five minutes left in the third quarter while holding his right wrist. Orlando couldn’t afford to lose another key player with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner both sidelined due to torn obliques. Especially against a Bucks team that entered the night having won eight of their past 10 contest.

As Bulldogs fans know, Suggs doesn’t go down easy. He wasn’t in the team’s locker room for very long before trotting back out to the scorer’s table with his hand wrapped in athletic tape. The 6-foot-5 guard returned with just under two minutes left in the third quarter, just in time for him to put on another epic performance in the clutch.

From pull-up 3-pointers to acrobatic finishes at the rim, Suggs carried Orlando offensively in the fourth quarter as he scored 18 points, including 10 straight, to put his team in a position to potentially tie the game in the final seconds. He knocked down a 3-pointer to knot things up at 100 apiece with 3:07 left in regulation, then put the Magic out in front with an 18-foot jumpshot to make it 104-103 at the 1:45 mark.

Mental lapses on the part of the Magic opened the door for the Bucks to get back in front over the final minute. Damian Lillard took advantage of two favorable matchups, the first resulting in a stepback 3-pointer and the next, a breakaway dunk to make it 108-107 in Milwaukee’s favor with 32.1 seconds left to play.

Suggs had two good looks from long range in the final 12 seconds, though he misfired on both as the Magic’s late fourth-quarter rally came up just short in the end. Anthony Black had 17 points and Moritz Wagner scored 13 points off the bench, while Goga Bitadze recorded a 12-point, 14-rebound double-double.

Suggs and Bitadze connected on a well-executed pick-and-roll that ended with the latter throwing down a poster dunk over Giannis Antetokounmpo. Defensively, he disrupted Milwaukee’s offense early and often in the first quarter. He recorded three steals, one of which resulted in a sweet bounce pass up ahead to Tristan da Silva in transition.

Tuesday’s career night for the Minnesota native comes just two days after he scored 26 points in Orlando’s win over the Phoenix Suns. He’s had seven games with 20 or more points this season, including a then-career-best 31 points against the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 27.

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