Pacers 113, Bucks 97: Unable to find a way around clogged lanes
INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Pacers, one of the best defensive teams in the league, spent the night packing the paint and stifling the Milwaukee Bucks' offensive attack.
In doing so, they cut off Giannis Antetokounmpo – the head of the snake for Milwaukee – forcing the rest of the Bucks to beat them.
They weren't up to the challenge.
Milwaukee trailed throughout the night, falling behind by as many as 21 points on the way to a 113-97 loss Wednesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Only Eric Bledsoe made a strong positive contribution to the game offensively, finishing with 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting to go with six assists in the loss.
BOX SCORE:Pacers 113, Bucks 97
"I give them a ton of credit, they were very good tonight," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said of the Pacers, who notched their fifth straight win. "We couldn't match it. We kept hanging around a little bit, felt like maybe we could make a run, but they would hit a big shot. We just couldn't make enough plays."
Outside of Bledsoe, though, the Bucks looked as bad as they have at any point this season.
Antetokounmpo, one of the league's MVP front-runners this season, finished with 12 points on just 4-of-7 shooting – his fewest shot attempts of the season. He added 10 rebounds and seven assists, but he spent the night fruitlessly battling and search for his shots while watching kickouts to teammates often result in misses.
Obviously and understandably frustrated at his locker after the game, Antetokounmpo spoke about how he spent the night trying to tamp down his ego, hold back from forcing the issue offensively and instead focus on making the right plays and trusting his teammates. Asked how he can get himself going in that scenario he answered, "You can't."
“I never had the ball," Antetokounmpo said. "I had multiple defenders around me. I had to pass the ball and the game did not come back to me. We never as a team forced the issue for the game to come back to me. My team wants me to be unselfish, I’m going to pass the ball and that’s going to be it.”
While Antetokounmpo acknowledged that his teammates have had his back throughout this season, they didn't Wednesday night. Outside of Bledsoe and Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee's starters combined to shoot a paltry 13 of 45 (28.9%).
Khris Middleton was just 4 of 18, including missing all seven of his three-point attempts. He got good looks but couldn't find his way out of his recent slump, looking frustrated as shot after shot went off the mark.
At a couple junctures, Middleton returned to his refuge of midrange shots, but couldn't find a rhythm there, either.
"I mean it's always frustrating when you don't hit shots you know you can make, but it's part of the game," Middleton said. "You have to stay with it."
Like Middleton, Brook Lopez and Malcolm Brogdon never got going, combining to go 9 of 27. As a team, the Bucks had one of their worst three-point shooting nights, going 11 of 43 (25.6%) as the Pacers pushed them out of the paint and dared them to score from outside.
While the Bucks couldn't get anything going, Pacers center Myles Turner – not regarded as a major three-point threat at 27.5% this season – put up 23 points while making 4 of 6 three-pointers. Those triples included a dagger trey with four minutes left after the Bucks had cut the margin to eight, marking the first time they were within single digits since early in the second quarter.
Thaddeus Young, who was a dominant force inside and against Antetokounmpo, finished with a team-high 25 points for the Pacers. Victor Oladipo, who was back after missing 11 games due to a right knee injury, finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“We weren’t helping each other out," Bledsoe said of the Bucks' defensive effort. "They were pretty much running where they wanted to run all night and we were chasing them. Once you’re chasing a team that’s shooting the ball well it’s going to be a long night.”
After scoring 100-plus points in each of the first 23 games this season, Milwaukee's high-flying offense has hit a rut. Wednesday marked the second time in a week -- the first being Friday against the Warriors -- that they failed to reach triple digits.
In both losses, Antetokounmpo was swarmed and limited by the opposing defense and Milwaukee's shooters couldn't make them pay. Now, as they head to Cleveland for a matchup with the Cavaliers on Thursday, the Bucks need to figure out how to adjust.
"It’s like anything," said Budenholzer, "if we’re making them pay then sometimes they have pick your poison. If we’re making them pay, we’ll welcome it. If we’re not moving the ball and getting (Antetokounmpo) in better positions and doing the things we need to do, then we’re going to have to look at where we can improve."