Team needs a firm stand at home to keep series hopes alive
Having miraculously seen Damian Lillard return to the court after a late-season DVT diagnosis, the Milwaukee Bucks had hoped to ride the momentum of the moment and right the ship in Indianapolis against the Pacers in Game 2. Instead, they return to Milwaukee tonight trailing 0-2 and with an enormous amount on the line, plenty of questions still to be answered, and most importantly, one more good chance to start turning the tide in their favor. No pressure!
Where We’re At
If you’re here, you’re likely already aware of the early dynamics in this series. Namely, Giannis Antetokounmpo has done some heavy lifting in his latest playoff outing, averaging 35.0 points and 15.0 rebounds (not to mention a less-than-sterling 0.89 AST:TO ratio), the Bucks defense is offering nominal-at-best resistance while the Pacers post the second-best TS% of any playoff team at 62.9%, and that Milwaukee’s supporting cast has been inconsistent. A better overall effort throughout the course of Game 2 meant the Bucks avoided consecutive beat-downs, getting the deficit to less than five with just a few minutes to go. Ultimately, it proved to no avail with Indiana finding answering shots late to surge back to an eight-point victory.
So the question of “where we’re at?” begets plenty more inquiries. The biggest unknown is that of the starters and whether Doc Rivers will make a change there. Check these stats out:
Lol. What says Doc?
#Bucks head coach Doc Rivers acknowledged lineup changes have been considered, but doesn’t mean he will implement any for Game 3. #NBASky
— Jim Owczarski (@jimowczarski.bsky.social) 2025-04-24T18:34:57.222Z
Realistically, you could make a logical case for any number of changes, from pushing Bobby Portis into an emergency starter role in place of Brook Lopez (it remains difficult to survive opposing stretch big minutes plus guards who intelligently attack the zone drop) to promoting Gary Trent Jr. as one of the few reliable backcourt options through two games. Should Rivers trot out the same group in Game 3 as he had for most of the close of the regular season/the start of this series, you pray he’s unbelievably quick pulling them off the floor if the Pacers get out on yet another early run.
From there, the inquiries Milwaukee must answer cascade. Can Damian Lillard turn in a slightly more efficient performance and continue tolerating huge minute allocations? Will Kevin Porter Jr. avoid a meltdown and start turning in reliable contributions? What the heck is Kyle Kuzma doing? Jericho Sims????
The team doesn’t need to get off to a blazing start, but they cannot afford to fall on their faces out of the gate. Give yourself a puncher’s chance in quarter one, keep the crowd in it, and introduce the merest shadow of a doubt into the opposition’s heads. That’s all you can do.
Injury Report
It’s a pretty clean bill of health for both teams as of this morning. The Bucks will only be missing Tyler Smith (left ankle sprain) while Indiana will be without Isaiah Jackson (torn achilles recovery).
Player To Watch
Bobby Portis had an extremely solid outing in Game 2, contributing 28 points (on 11/19 shooting) and 12 rebounds—plus positive energy and execution on the defensive end—in about 32 minutes of play. With questions about starting lineup changes swirling, Bobby is certainly set to be the recipient of extended burn as the Pacers continue to run smaller lineups. Of course, Portis can just as readily shoot the team out of things if the jumpers aren’t going while his attempts remain steady. Winning would be a heck of a lot easier with another great night from him.
How To Watch
NBA TV and FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin at 7:00 p.m. CDT.
Playback Streaming
new Playback.Embed(“playback-embed”, {
room: “brewhoop”,
style: { height: “100%”, width: “100%” },
});
Support our site! | BreakingT | ESPN+ | ESPN+ 30 For 30 | fuboTV | Disney+