With a win against the Indiana Pacers, the Milwaukee Bucks’ win streak now stretches to five games. The Bucks also clinched the tie breaker over Indiana, and now sit only one-and-a-half games behind them in the standings.
In a game the Milwaukee Bucks needed for playoff seeding tiebreakers, they struggled to get things going early on. To be more specific, they fell 10 points behind in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the game.
The scoring drought would only be broken behind a double clutch, and-one dunk from Thon Maker. Indiana added two more buckets to extend their lead to 14-3. Jason Kidd turned to Greg Monroe for answers, and the Bucks trimmed the lead down to five very quickly.
The two sides traded buckets the rest of the opening quarter, which ended with a breakaway steal by Moose, who then euro-stepped into an open field for the easy lay in. Milwaukee trailed 27-23 after a rough 12 minutes of action.
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The first six minutes of the second quarter were the Khris Middleton show. He hit four nice jumpers, but also turned the ball over a number of times. Without Malcolm Brogdon, who was out with a back injury, Middleton was asked to be the primary ball handler for a lineup that consisted of Jason Terry, Rashad Vaughn, Greg Monroe, and John Henson. All things considered, he did a great job of putting some points up.
Giannis re-entered the game with the Bucks down five points, and the deficit increased to double digits, but again the Bucks were able to close the gap to only five points at half.
It was in the third quarter when the tide started to turn Milwaukee’s way. The Bucks finished the quarter leading 74-68, outscoring the Pacers 29-18 in the quarter. The Bucks got big contributions from John Henson, who had eight points, seven rebounds, and four blocks by the end of the third. Giannis also made his mark on the game, contributing on both sides of the floor to lead the run.
The fourth quarter went much like the third as the Bucks dominated the second half. Everyone’s favorite Texas A&M Aggie (sigh, I loved Johnny Manziel) hit a crazy turn around jumper late in the fourth quarter to extend the lead. Jason Terry also hit a clutch three when the Pacers had cut the lead to three, giving the Bucks the boost they needed to close it out.
Milwaukee won 99-85, as their fifth straight victory moved them into the final spot in the playoff standings.