Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo discuss Buck’s row with Kings
Milwaukee Bucks players Brook Lopez, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton spoke about Lopez’s late-game altercation with Sacramento’s Trey Lyles.
Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Indiana Pacers lost a 10-game losing streak to the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night at the Fiserv Forum, winning 139-123.
It’s only the third loss for the Bucks since Jan. 23, and they fell to 50-20 for the year. The Pacers won for the third time in their last four games, improving to 32-38.
Pacers have a great second half to bring down Bucks
With 12 players available — and Giannis Antetokounmpo in early trouble — Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer went 10 deep to outlast the Pacers. Starters Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton led the way as they all scored in double digits, and Joe Ingles Meyers Leonard, Jevon Carter and Wesley Matthews also netted from the bench.
Milwaukee assisted on 26 of their 46 field goals and attacked the Paint (66) en route 54.1% from the floor when the regulars were in. At one point late in the third quarter, they were making shots with a 61% clip – although he was only 8 to 22 (36%) behind the three-point line at that point.
All were signs the Bucks could win, but they’ve never really been able to distance themselves from the Pacers despite building multiple double-digit leads in the first three quarters.
That was because, like Milwaukee, Indiana included everyone on offense as eight different players hit double digits.
Indiana used two different 11-0 runs in the third quarter to go into the fourth quarter with a 104-101 lead. The rallies were fueled by a 9-for-11 performance from behind the three-point line, propelling them to a 49-point quarter.
The Pacers opened the fourth with a 13-3 run that gave them a 117-107 lead that the Bucks followed from there. But Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard (24 points), Aaron Nesmith (22), TJ McConnell (19) and George Hill (15) kept firing and Milwaukee couldn’t make enough stops on the stretch to come back.
Foul problems slow down Giannis Antetokounmpo
Antetokounmpo spent most of the first half as a spectator for the Bucks after committing three early fouls in the second quarter, but he made his presence felt early in the third quarter.
He immediately tackled Indiana center Myles Turner and drew two fouls on back-to-back games, and then Middleton and Holiday found him for alley-oops through traffic on back-to-back possessions to help the Bucks take a 10-point lead.
But he also drew his fourth foul in that series of games and would earn his fifth early in the fourth quarter. With that, the Pacers attacked the color harder and went more physical on offense with Antetokounmpo to take a 12-point lead around the middle of the fourth quarter.
The punctuation came when Turner dipped on Antetokounmpo to make it 136-120 Pacers at 2:13, at which point Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer pulled his starters.
BOX RESULT: Pacer 139, Buck’s 123
Antetokounmpo finished the game with 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists in 26 minutes. He made 10 of his 17 shots but was 5 for 10 from the free throw line.
He only played 10 minutes in the first half while the Bucks built a 64-55 lead at the break. He was 4-7 for nine points and had six rebounds and two assists but had to sit and watch for the final eight minutes of the second half. He finished the game 44-40 for the Bucks and the Pacers leveled the game shortly after his elimination, but the team finished on a 20-11 run in the last seven minutes of the half.
Five numbers
22 Three-pointers by the Pacers, who shot 47.8% from deep.
12-0 First and second quarter points for Indiana sharpshooter Buddy Hield. Hield scored a dozen goals in the opening frame to keep the Pacers connected, but he only attempted a shot in the second quarter. He finished with 20 for the game.
46 Seconds, a stretch where Antetokounmpo was called out for three fouls in the second quarter. He got his third with 7:58 left, so he was sitting until halftime.
84 Points for the second half for the Pacers, who turned a 14-point deficit into a 16-point win.
02/12/2020 The last time the Pacers beat the Bucks was in a 118-111 win at the Fiserv Forum.
Tyrese Haliburton misses another homecoming
The Indiana all-star and Oshkosh native twisted an ankle in a recent practice session, and the Pacers star wasn’t just ruled out for the game against the Bucks, the next handful for his team from head coach Rick Carlisle. Haliburton, who averaged 20.8 points and 10.4 assists per game during his breakout season, has missed all three games against the Bucks this season.
Jordan Nwora meets ex-team
The 24-year-old winger first met his former team as a member of the Pacers. Nwora ended up with the Pacers as part of a trade deal with Brooklyn, Phoenix and Indiana that brought Jae Crowder to Milwaukee. Before Thursday’s game, he had a career-high 12 points in 21.3 minutes per game for the Pacers.
“This is a really good opportunity for him,” Carlisle said. “He has a real talent for getting the ball in the basket. He can do it with catch and shoot, he can do it with dribbling, he can do it with floaters.”
In addition to losing Haliburton, the Pacers also lost fellow guards Ben Mathurin (16.6 points per game) and Chris Duarte (8.0 points per game) against the Bucks, giving Nwora the start and a greater chance to hold his own against the team that drafted him in the second round of Louisville in 2020.
But he faced Middleton and Wesley Matthews for most of the game. Nwora had just four points on 2 of 5 shots in 19 minutes in the first half, but he finished with 12 points and was 2-3 behind the three-point line in the second half as the Pacers took the lead.
His catch-and-shoot three-pointer by 57.7 seconds in the third quarter gave the Pacers a 102-101 lead, and they’ve been trailing since then.
The game of the game is George Hill’s fourth quarter three
The Pacers took a 112-105 lead early in the fourth quarter, forcing the Bucks to take time out to try to stem the tide. But then former Bucks guard George Hill came off the break and knocked down a three-pointer, giving his team a 115-105 lead with 10-05 to go. Usually that’s more than enough time for the Bucks to bounce back, but with Antetokounmpo in nasty trouble and the Pacers playing hard, it would prove a setback for the best team in the east.
The video of the game is Meyers Leonard’s traffic immersion
With Lopez out and Antetokounmpo in foul trouble, the Bucks turned to the 7-footer Leonard early in the game, and he filled in after a skillful overhead pass from Jrue Holiday that resulted in a wild dunk over two Pacers defenders led, some space in the post. Leonard had six points in the first half, giving the Bucks a 38-20 advantage in that area, despite Antetokounmpo only playing 10 minutes.
Buck’s injury report
- Brook Lopez (left ankle pain) is out
- Jae Crowder (left calf pain), out
- Goran Dragić (left knee pain) is out
- Grayson Allen (right plantar fascia soreness), out
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo (not with team), out
Who do the Bucks play next?
The Bucks have a few days off before hosting the Toronto Raptors at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Fiserv Forum. The Raptors are under .500 but still in the mix for the play-in tournament, so Nick Nurse’s team needs to win to keep their postseason hopes alive. They are led by All-Star Pascal Siakam and Guard Fred VanVleet. OG Anunoby and Scottie Barnes are also having good seasons for the Raptors.
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