The Milwaukee Bucks fail to clinch a playoff berth, falling apart as they lost to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night.
The Milwaukee Bucks have suddenly transformed from one of the hottest teams in the league to one of the coldest. They lost for the third straight game on Thursday night, not only failing to clinch a spot in the playoffs, but falling to the sixth seed instead.
Only down by four to the Indiana Pacers after the first quarter thanks to 12 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks came out looking better than they did in Oklahoma City. However, despite tying the game at 38 midway through the second, six straight Bucks turnovers, including four in a row from Matthew Dellavadova, helped the Pacers go on a 10 point run. The Bucks would enter the half only down by six, despite a pitiful lack of ball security.
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Soon after they cut the lead to just two in the third quarter, 13 straight points from the Pacers put this one out of reach for good. The Bucks failed to cut the lead to less than 10 the rest of the way, and when Khris Middleton fouled out in the fourth, Giannis was pulled soon after.
Paul George did a good job scoring, putting up an efficient 23 points to go with an impressive 4 steals. The Pacers as a whole managed 9 more shots than the Bucks, and 12 more attempts from the charity stripe.
In a game filled with its fair share of ups and downs, we’ll find some of the key takeaways as the Bucks have just three more games left in the regular season