Indiana is often thought of as a high-octane, up-tempo, top-10 offense in the NBA (which it is), but don’t sell its defense short. The Pacers were top-10 in the league after the All-Star break.
Just ask Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.
The Pacers’ defense showed out Saturday in Game 1 of their playoff series against the Bucks. Indiana loaded up its defense to make everything difficult for Giannis Antetokounmpo, it was physical with him from the opening tip. While he still finished with 36 points on 14-of-23 shooting, Antetokounmpo had to work hard for every point, couldn’t run free, and he never got his teammates going.
The bigger problem for Milwaukee was that Antetokounmpo was the only guy creating or scoring for the Bucks: Kyle Kuzma was 0-of-5 shooting and finished without a point, Bobby Portis and Ryan Rollins each shot 2-of-8, and Kevin Porter Jr. was 2-of-7.
The result was Indiana looking dominant early, leading by 28 points and never being seriously threatened on its way to a 117-98 win, taking a 1-0 series lead.
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, while Tyrese Haliburton added 10 points and 12 rebounds in the win.
The key to the game, however, was the Pacers’ defense.
“He’s a tough cover…” Siakam said of Antetokounmpo. “He’s very good at getting to the paint. He’s strong. He’s physical. I thought we did a decent job but he did get a couple of easy baskets.”
The Bucks have one big change for Game 2 (or maybe 3) — Damian Lillard could return from the deep vein Thrombosis that kept him out the final month of the season. Lillard was heard at Game 1, too, trash-talking Haliburton.
That’s all just white noise to the Pacers after their win. Whether a rusty Lillard can change the Bucks’ fortunes is another question, but Milwaukee needs the answer to be yes.
Myles Turner had 19 points for the Pacers and Andrew Nembhard added 17.
