Indiana Pacers show how threatening they can be in win over Milwaukee Bucks
The Indiana Pacers are rolling. They're 6-3, which puts them third in the Eastern Conference, and they've already taken down Milwaukee and Cleveland (twice) this season. They're playing great basketball.
The Pacers win over the Bucks was on Thursday night, and it showed what the Pacers hope to be trending toward. They beat a contender without an unusually hot shooting game. Instead, they just played their style and hung in there while Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 54 points. They came out on the other side with a 126-124 victory.
"Any time you can get a win against another top team in the Conference, the Division, the league. Feels good. Good team win overall," Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said after the game. He was in a good mood after beating his hometown Bucks for the first time in his career.
Truly, the blue and gold felt good all night. They were playing on a back to back, and it was their fifth game in seven nights. Instead of being tired, they were buzzing pregame. A few players were watching a highlight package of T.J. McConnell in the locker room while eating their pregame meals. Others were sitting at their lockers, getting ready for the task at hand.
In the background, Jay-Z blared. Heart of the City and Takeover blasted through a speaker. The group was in a good headspace for the upcoming outing, perhaps the most difficult test they've had at home all season.
That mentality led to a strong start. If fans were a few minutes late to the game, they missed it — Indiana led 25-7 after less than six minutes of play. Their offense was humming, and the starters were defending better than they have for most of the season. Their pregame prep and locker room vibe were perfect early.
The Bucks had answers, mainly via their star player. Antetkounmpo had 54 points, and 16 of them came from the foul line. He was getting to the rim easily, and he made 19 of his 25 shots. That situation put the Pacers in foul trouble, which significantly altered their rotation.
Obi Toppin barely played. Daniel Theis made his season debut, and the Pacers deployed lineups with two centers. They needed answers to both Antetokoumpo's brilliance and the Bucks' zone defense.
They found it. Haliburton was brilliant, scoring 14 points in the second half on his way to 29 in total. He finished with a double double by adding 10 assists. Bennedict Mathurin was impressive too, finishing with 26 points and a career-high 11 rebounds — it was his first-ever double double. Mathurin also came up big in crunch time with a few vital stops on Antetokounmpo, which changed the tenor of the game late.
"It was fun," Mathurin said of the win. "We are doing pretty good."
Haliburton noted that the team figuring out how to get stops late is what changed the game. They were down by 10 with less than seven minutes to go against a formidable foe, but that didn't shake the Pacers.
They started strong and they closed strong. Along the way, with Mathurin and Haliburton leading the group, everybody contributed. Seven of the ten players who suited up for the blue and gold shot 50% from the field or better, and they found just enough defensive answers throughout the night.
"I feel like we're handling things the right way. Everybody's contributing," Haliburton said.
The defense finally hit a groove, and both Mathurin and Haliburton found the bottom of the net late. The Pacers started and and ended their game against the Bucks at the high level on Thursday night, and it allowed them to walk away with their best win of the season. It was just the second time the Pacers beat Antetkounmpo since 2018.
"Feels good. This is a hard stretch of games," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said after the victory. Indiana had two back to backs in a week, and two of the East's top teams from last season were involved in them. They still got it done, going 4-1 in the seven-day span. "Every win is a great win."
Indiana is playing excellent basketball right now. They have the top offense in the NBA, scoring over 121 points per 100 possessions. That's more than three points per 100 possessions better than the next-best team.
They're still struggling on defense, but they have found some answers. Their defensive rating is 114.7, per pbpstats, when excluding their game in Boston in which Haliburton didn't play and the Celtics couldn't miss. Of course, Indiana didn't defend well in that game, and it counts. But they were without their star and have been much better in every other outing.
Altogether, the Pacers are playing great, and they're playing the style that they want. Haliburton said that the team played Pacers basketball to respond to Antetokounmpo's dominance, and that's how they earned a significant win on Thursday.
"We're rolling right now, this could very well be the best we've played since I got here," Haliburton said after the game. Indiana acquired him in February of 2022, and the All-Star guard believes that the team should be 8-1. They had rough fourth quarters in losses to the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls, two winnable games.
"We feel like we can compete with anybody on any given night," he said.
Indiana will be tested in their next two games. They travel to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers twice next week. Both teams are among the best in the East, and it will be a measuring stick for the Pacers. Their offense is elite, is it good enough to hang with the red-hot Sixers?
"The only way you really grow as a team in this league is to be battle tested under some tough circumstances. Tonight, there was some very tough circumstances, and our guys did a tremendous job," Carlisle said after the Pacers beat the Bucks. His team is rolling right now, and they have a chance to prove they are one of the league's most in-form groups early next week.
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