
After a bounce-back win on Saturday night, the Milwaukee Bucks are back in action on the road against the Indiana Pacers for their first divisional game of the young season. The Bucks looked much more like the team we expected in their last game, putting the absolute shellacking they received in the second game of the year behind them.
The Pacers always present an interesting challenge for the Bucks and with new coach Rick Carlisle calling the shots, they’re a team that should be right back in the thick of the mid-table East playoff race this season. They picked up their first win on Saturday against the Miami Heat and if their first three games are any indication, tonight’s game should be a nail-biter as they’ve gone to overtime twice and their two losses were by a combined two points.
Since head coach Mike Budenholzer took over, the Bucks are 9-2 against the Pacers in the last three seasons. That includes a four-game win streak against the Pacers dating back to the 2019-20 season and a sweep of the three-game season series last year. However, this is a new coach who is one of the best in the entire league so there could be some new problems ahead.
Can Grayson Allen get going from 3-point range for the Milwaukee Bucks against the Indiana Pacers?
Just be looking at his counting stats, Grayson Allen is off to a relatively strong start to his Bucks career. Through three games, the 26-year-old is averaging 11.3 points, four rebounds, 2.7 assists, and a steal in 27.3 minutes per game. All of those numbers would be career-highs for the new Bucks starting two-guard, but one aspect where he has struggled was one that wasn’t a concern coming into the season.
Allen is shooting 26.9 percent from 3 on nearly nine attempts per game, which would be by far the lowest percentage of his career. It’s a very small sample and every shooter goes through bumps in the road, but a 7-for-26 start from 3 was not what anyone had in mind.
The primary source of his struggles is on above the break triples, where he’s shooting 5-for-22 in the early going, per NBA.com/stats. That’s compared to 2-for-4 from the corners, which are usually occupied by the Bucks’ weaker shooters. There is cause for optimism as Allen shot nearly 40 percent on over 220 above the break 3 attempts last season, so it’s a spot he’s comfortable with.
More good news for Allen? Teams are shooting over 42 percent on above the break 3s against the Pacers so far this season, the fourth-highest mark in the league so perhaps this is a get-right spot for his jump shooting.