Rapid Recap: Bucks 111, Pacers 118

Clearly some of this Milwaukee Bucks team has All-Star plans on their brain, because the relatively uninspired performance they put together in this 118-111 loss against the Pacers showed those island breezes were more top of mind than basketball. It was one of Milwaukee’s worst first quarters of the season to start, with the Pacers penetrating their defense continuously for a 34-20 lead. Indiana didn’t relent for the second period either, going into half with a 68-45 advantage. Milwaukee’s 3-pointers started to splash home in the third period, cutting into Indiana’s lead to make it an 82-71 game to start the fourth. Despite chipping away to kick off the fourth, the Bucks could not overcome the Pacers down the stretch.

Giannis Antetokoumnpo missed this one as well after the birth of his son, which wasn’t ideal considering Khris Middleton was cold as ice to start off this game. While he got his groove a bit within the second, he couldn’t muster enough offensive force to overcome a sloppy overall performance. He finished with 17 points on 6-17 shooting.

Eric Bledsoe couldn’t find his shot from deep, and settled all too often for unnecessary outside jumpers in ending at 15 points. Marvin Williams did make his first appearance as a Buck with nine points and Donte DiVincenzo added 19 with eight rebounds, but no one else bathed themselves in glory.

T.J. Warren was an absolute flamethrower for the Pacers the entire evening, shooting 16-19 for 35 points. Malcolm Brogdon added 17, Domantas Sabonis had 15 as well while Victor Oladipo ended at 13.

Stat that Stood Out

The Bucks sloppy passing was an easy conduit for the Pacers to get points in transition. Indiana outscored the Bucks 33-20 in points off turnovers, despite Milwaukee turning it over just two more times than Indiana. Couple that with Milwaukee’s porous defense inside and it was a perfect recipe for a loss.