The visiting Indiana Pacers proved to be too much for the Milwaukee Bucks, as the Bucks lost 103-96.
The Milwaukee Bucks took the court against the Indiana Pacers needing a win in the worst way. Losers of their last three, the Bucks had fallen to seventh place in the East. The fifth-placed Pacers had also dropped their previous two, so something had to give in this matchup of struggling squads.
With starting guard Tony Snell in street clothes for the evening, Bucks’ Coach Joe Prunty looked to veteran shooting guard Jason Terry for a spark, in his first start of the season. Terry went scoreless in his first quarter minutes, but came up with a big block on a Thaddeus Young layup attempt as the Bucks and Pacers got off to a pretty even, somewhat sloppy start.
The Bucks led 21-18 heading into the second quarter. The tight play continued throughout the period, as neither team held an advantage greater than four. Paced by 12 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo and 11 from Khris Middleton, Milwaukee headed to the locker room at half time with a hard-fought 46-45 lead.
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Nate McMillan‘s Pacers broke the game open in the third, ripping off a 14-1 run keyed by the scoring of All-Star guard Victor Oladipo (21 points, seven rebounds, six assists on the night).
Milwaukee was remarkably slow to respond, falling behind by a maximum deficit of 17 as forward Domantas Sabonis (six points, nine boards) hit a jump shot to take a 93-76 lead with 6:34 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Bucks made a late run, pulling to within four during the final minutes. They could never quite get over the hump, however, and the Pacers hung on to take this one.
This game was tight throughout the first half, and well into the third quarter. Let’s see what went wrong as the Bucks faded in the second half.