3 Crucial matchups in playoff series between Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers

Can someone guard Giannis Antetokounmpo?

This last matchup might lose some weight because of the Giannis injury. Yet, it will be huge whenever he's back, not because he's a menace, something that is true for every NBA team, but because he seems to be a nightmare for this specific Pacers team.

Through the five games played, Giannis has averaged 42.2 points on 67.6 percent shooting from the floor, which is actually insane. Some could think his 64-point game buffs this stat and makes it unreliable, but if we don't take that game into account (even if I don't really know why we shouldn't), he's still over his season averages both in scoring (31 points) and efficiency (61.5 percent).

It goes without saying that even if the Bucks lost four out of those five games, the Greek Freak was still pretty dominant.

However, as we've said, the Pacers roster has changed, and they've added a player like Siakam, who can actually try to bother Giannis on defense. Myles Turner lacks the speed, and Aaron Nesmith, despite having some great defensive stretches on him, lacks the height. But Siakam is strong, lengthy and a proven defender. If Rick Carlisle tries to use him to stop Antetokounmpo, he will face a new challenge against this team and will have to find new ways of keeping his scoring numbers up.

This potential matchup could also be interesting on the other end of the floor, though. On defense, Giannis likes being able to roam around and be a big help defender, something that some teams punish when playing with four perimeter players. With this kind of lineup, if he overhelps in the paint, they can find a free shooter on the perimeter. Siakam, however, isn't necessarily a player who can often take advantage of that, which could help Giannis to be a bigger factor as a rim protector.

Nevertheless, Siakam is actually having his best shooting season at 38.6 percent from three since he got to Indiana, although he's doing it while shooting only 2.5 threes a game, way less than his previous years in Toronto. The question that arises then is: are the Bucks willing to live with that shot? And if so, can Siakam keep those percentages while shooting a higher volume?

Time will tell.