Pacers Head Coach Rick Carlisle Gets Candid on Beating Giannis Antokounmpo

Jeremy Hanna | Apr 16, 2025

Dec 31, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) celebrates a made shot in the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images / Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

The Indiana Pacers are riding high heading into the 2025 NBA Playoffs, sporting a 50-32 record and sitting in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

This means that the Pacers have homecourt advantage heading into the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks. They have been fierce rivals ever since they met in the playoffs last season.

The Bucks seemingly had the Pacers' number this season, winning three of their four match ups. This was in large part to Milwaukee power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 30 points or more in each of those games.

Antetokounmpo is one of the best players in then modern NBA and is having an MVP-caliber season, averaging 30.4 points, 11.9 total rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 0.9 steals per game.

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Needless to say, if the Pacers want to win, they will have to contain The Greek Freak. And head coach Rick Carlisle realizes that.

"You just got to have your guard up," Carlisle said, per Clark Wade of IndyStar. "It's a protect your turf mentality, and it's undending, so we've got to get that edge this week heading into Saturday."

"They're a tough match up. They're really, really difficult. They've won eight in a row without Lillard. Giannis, he's not only scoring 30, but he's getting 12 or 13 assists a game in the last several games. And so there's a lot of problems to deal with."

"During this period when Dame has been out, he's been seeing consistent double teams and he's just continued to evolve as a great player and he's mixing in the assist. The laser skip passes across the court, which are very difficult to deal with when you're double teaming him. And his shooting's getting better and better."

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It's obvious that containing Giannis will be the key to the Pacers coming out on top, and they were able to pull it off before. In the one game Indiana beat Milwaukee this season, they were able to keep Antetokounmpo to 19 points, although he still recorded 17 rebounds, seven assists, and one block.

It definitely won't be easy, and some experts think they won't succeed. But the Pacers proved that they can do it when they beat the Bucks last year in six games. And they could definitely do it again.

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For more news and notes on the Indiana Pacers, head on over to Indiana Pacers on SI.