With Damian Lillard's availability still up in the air, the Milwaukee Bucks are entering the postseason shorthanded. But if there’s a roadmap to surviving — and maybe even thriving — it’s already been laid out by Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Pacers play fast. They score quickly. And they’re lethal off turnovers. Milwaukee doesn’t have time to adjust on the fly. They have to know exactly who they are from Game 1.
Giannis does.
“I don't think it starts with the paint. I think it starts with transition,” he said in his media availability ahead of their matchup with Indiana.
“We've got to do a better job just communicating, getting back. Then we will get back, identify where the ball is. And when we identify where the ball is, then we have to protect our home, which is the paint. If we're able to do those things, we put ourselves in a better position to be successful.”
Giannis knows exactly what the Bucks have to do to get past the Pacers
This is how Indiana kills teams. They push the pace, capitalize on bad passes and lazy decisions and rack up easy points before defenses are even set. They score 26.2 points per game on transition opportunities, which is good for the 86th percentile in the league for that playtype. In the regular season, their 8.5 steals per game were good for eighth in the league. And across four matchups, the Pacers forced 15.5 turnovers per game from Milwaukee.
As far as dealing with the pace goes, the Milwaukee Bucks don’t need to overcomplicate it. Get back. Talk. Close the paint. Make them beat you in the half court, which the Pacers so far haven't done. But on the offensive end, any sort of laziness with the ball is simply not going to cut it. The Bucks need to put in a more concerted effort at taking care of the ball. That means communicating better and thinking twice before moving the ball around the Pacers.
It’s a shift from the usual “wall the paint” game plan Milwaukee has leaned on in the past. This time, it starts before that. And while the Milwaukee Bucks have looked shaky at times this year, Giannis pointed out that they've quietly strung together a strong finish.
“Our habits that we built the last 11 games has been really good. I think we've been playing at a higher level. Every game that we've played, we've competed. We've made it hard for every team that we faced.”
That matters. Indiana is a high-powered team, but they’re also not as experienced as the Bucks. Milwaukee, even without Lillard, is battle-tested. And they’ve proven recently that they can win ugly. But they also need to prove that they can win on the road in a hostile environment. It's what they struggled with in Indiana a year ago, and Giannis Antetokounmpo says they'll have to do it better this time around.
"You know, we kept saying all year long, in order for you to win in the playoffs, you got to win on the road. Got to be able to win on the road. And we did it as of late."
The final key? Protect the ball.
“You have to take care of the ball because Indiana is one of the most efficient teams when you turn the ball over. We cannot have 10, 15, 17 turnovers in the game. It's gonna cost us probably the game. We just gotta be better taking care of the ball.”
It’s a narrow path to success. But it’s clear. Stop transition. Defend the paint. Take care of the ball. Giannis Antetokounmpo has the formula. Now the Milwaukee Bucks just have to follow it.
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