Bucks dig their own grave with dumb basketball, yet again
In a game where the Milwaukee Bucks came back from down 10 in the last quarter against the Indiana Pacers, they lose 114-115 on a four-point play from Tyrese Haliburton. Yup. Brook Lopez led the Bucks with 23 points and seven rebounds, while Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 25 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists.
Game Recap
Neither team had any interest in playing defence early, with the Bucks leading 15-14 less than six minutes in and both squads making a fair few defensive errors. Prince was hot early for the Bucks, going 3/4 from distance to start. However, some silly live-ball turnovers had the Bucks down 28-32 after one.
The Bucks started the second quarter in a malaise. Continuous basic defensive errors killed them early on: two Bucks going with one Pacer running down the lane while Mathurin got a wide-open wing three being the best example. And as the teams came out of the timeout, another turnover inbounding the basketball! Brilliant. Thankfully, the Bucks then made a point of moving the ball and answered with their own 12-0 run to take a one-point lead with 4:26 left in the frame, including a Brook Lopez five-point cameo. Pacers up 57-55 at half, leading fast-break points 19-3.
Dame was lively early in the third with five quick points (after scoring just two in the first half) along with a nice dime to Giannis cutting down the lane. Both teams really went blow for blow for next five minutes or so with the margin remaining around three points in either team’s favour. The non-Giannis lineup did decently to tread water over the final five minutes, game tied at 88 after three.
Pascal Siakam powered the Pacers to a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter as Giannis remained on the bench. Giannis finally checked back in, and the lead was halved via two Lopez buckets with 7:24 remaining. Buckets from Lopez and Trent equalled the game at 103. A KPJ turnover led to the Haliburton runout dun to give them a five-point lead, but the Bucks came back with two layups. Then TP had an awesome defensive possession on Tyrese, followed by GA kicking out to Trent for the deep-corner triple to put Milwaukee up 112-110 with just over a minute left. Nembhard took two threes on one possession and missed both, but the Bucks couldn’t make their own three down the other end. Then, Nembhard drove to the hoop and got fouled but made only one. Bucks ball with 6.8 seconds to go, Dame got fouled and made both. Indy timeout with 3.9 seconds remaining. And of course… the unimaginable happened. Giannis fouled Tyrese Haliburton on a corner three. Just unimaginably stupid basketball. Pacers win.
Stat That Stood Out
Milwaukee got destroyed in fast-break points, losing 3-31. No, that is not a typo.
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