Rapid Recap: Bucks 89, Pacers 92

In a matchup where both teams were tired from winning intense contests the night before, the Milwaukee Bucks fell in a slugfest to the Indiana Pacers, 92-89. But before anything else, please view this extremely important video:

The Pacers (4th seed in the East) led the Bucks (7th seed in the East) by only a pair of games leading into this contest, and with Indiana coming off a tough win against the Washington Wizards, and Milwaukee coming off an even tougher win against the Philadelphia 76ers, each team knew how crucial the outcome of this game was. Each team was clearly gassed, but Indiana made just enough plays to stay ahead of Milwaukee.

The Bucks once again fell down by a significant margin (65-50 in the third quarter), and once again closed the gap down to a manageable margin, pulling to 90-89 within the final 30 seconds of the game. Khris Middleton came up with a steal late, but it got knocked out of bounds with 6.8 left and forced a jump ball, won by Indiana. Bojan Bogdanovic’s ensuing foul shots proved to be more than Milwaukee could overcome, as Giannis’ last-second three pointer to force overtime fell short.

Giannis Antetokounmpo continued working out of his February slump with 18 points, 12 rebounds, 5 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Eric Bledsoe chipped in by carrying the scoring load, putting in 26 points and 4 assists. Jabari Parker brought some heat off the bench, putting up 15 points and 5 rebounds in his 24 minutes. Jason Terry continued defying Father Time with 9 points in his 21 minutes on the court, including playing in clutch time over his (much) younger teammates.

For Indiana, Victor Oladipo had a quiet first half and ended the game with 14 points and 10 turnovers. Bojan Bogdanovic kept up his recent hot shooting with 29 points (including 5/7 threes), and Domantas Sabonis pitched in 11 points and 5 boards. Thaddeus Young and habitual instigator and all-around crazy person Lance Stephenson had 10 and 11 points, respectively.

Stat That Stood Out

58.8%. Indiana didn’t take very many threes in this game (only five attempts by halftime), but they made the most of their looks from beyond the arc, sinking 10/17 on the evening. More problematic was how those threes came; Milwaukee was able to contest some of the Pacers’ looks and force the shot to remain unattempted, but too many of Indiana’s opportunities came open and unresisted.