Giannis Antetokounmpo has a triple-double but the Pacers snap Bucks’ home-winning streak
At Fiserv Forum on Monday night, the Indiana Pacers pulled off a 122-113 comeback victory to snap the Milwaukee Bucks’ 15-game home winning run. The squad last suffered a home loss against the Atlanta Hawks on October 29. This was an arena-record streak for them.
After overturning two different 15-point deficits, the second of which occurred in the third quarter, the Pacers won their fourth game in a row. Driven by its second unit, Indiana (18–14) outscored the Bucks’ 70–16, with double-figure scoring from Ben Mathurin (25), Isaiah Jackson (18), T.J. McConnell (16), and Obi Toppin (11).
For the third time this season, McConnell scored in double digits, and his nine assists equaled the second-highest amount he’s ever had in a game.
Bucks guard Khris Middleton said, “T.J. did a great job of getting into his spots and orchestrating the offense.” He’s been using the bench unit for a while now. Reaching his whereabouts and involving the other men. The primary issue is that during the fourth quarter, we were unable to get Tyrese Haliburton and T.J. out of the paint.
Myles Turner scored 13 points, Aaron Nesmith and Jalen Smith combined for 11 points on 4 of 20 shots, and Haliburton was the only Indiana starter to have a significant effect.
When describing Indiana’s second unit, Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin stated, “They were excellent.” Their bench certainly helped them out a lot. We may have had a few leads there. We took the lead a few times when our starters were in the game, but when some of them left the game, we were unable to maintain it. Give them due credit. They produced plays. We had some pretty nice looks tonight, in my opinion, too; they just didn’t fall. We played like three excellent quarters, in my opinion.
In contrast, Damian Lillard only shot 3-for-16 from the field overall and 1-for-9 from outside the three-point line for 13 points, while everyone of the Bucks’ starters scored in double figures.
It’s a component of the game, according to Lillard. That seems to be the first thing. The ball may not always go in. As someone who shoots the ball, I felt like they were all going in tonight. They were content. The ball didn’t feel uncomfortable leaving my hands. That is how things sometimes work. Sometimes it’s merely an adjustment phase.
“I believe it’s simpler to just have a more natural rhythm to the game because, you know, I’ve played the game with the ball throughout my career. Instead of going through phases where I’m simply off the ball and shooting catch-and-shoot shots a lot more frequently, I believe that certain nights are now just better than others when it comes to shooting the ball and being able to sort of manage and control the game. Thus, you’re not really sure.
“I think it gets a little bit harder when you’re not fully used to it because the rhythm is just different from the game.” Then, as I already mentioned, every shot I took made me feel terrific. It just did not enter.
Malik Beasley, a shooting guard for Milwaukee, shot four times out of eight attempts from beyond the three-point line but was frequently fouled.
“Yeah, I wanted to be more aggressive at the end of the game, but obviously I was fouling, and they knew that too. They knew I had five, or four, fouls,” Beasley said. “I told the referee that I felt a few of my fouls weren’t warranted, but that’s just the way it works. It occurs. I need to step up my defense, keep playing that role, and make shots when I do receive the ball.
There wasn’t much assistance after Giannis Antetokounmpo’s triple-double of 30 points, 18 rebounds, and 11 assists. Khris Middleton scored 21 points and six assists, while Brook Lopez added 21 points and four blocks. The four reserve players for the Bucks combined to shoot 6-for-19 (31.5%).
“I think it was a stoppage game at the end of the day, and they were able to win because we couldn’t get stops,” Antetokounmpo remarked.
Against Milwaukee this season, Indiana is presently 3-1. The Bucks will travel to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday to play the club in their regular-season finale.
“We need to work it out,” said Antetokounmpo. “We could see them in the postseason; you never know. In two days, we’ll see them once more. Ultimately, this enhances our abilities. improves us. I have to go check the recordings, see what they are doing well against us, and attempt to put an end to it. Furthermore, we’ll probably lose again if we can’t stop it.
Pacers opponent Giannis Antetokounmpo records a triple-double.
Since 1989, Rick Carlisle has coached in the NBA, and he hasn’t been able to come up with a player for whom he has developed a game plan that has shown the kind of consistent dominance Giannis Antetokounmpo has just shown against Indiana.
And the only three-game span that Carlisle could remember as a player of such dominance came during the 1986 playoffs, when his Boston Celtics faced off against the Chicago Bulls, led by a teenage Michael Jordan. In those games, Jordan averaged 43.7 points on 50.5% shooting, 6.3 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game. In three games, he scored 49, 63, and 19 points.
About attempting to slow Antetokounmpo, Carlisle remarked, “It’s a big task, for sure.”
On Monday, Indiana made another attempt, but Antetokounmpo once again showed that he was too strong for them, finishing with 30 points, 18 rebounds, and 11 assists for his third triple-double of the year, marking his 38th career triple-double. For four of those triple-doubles, he has tormented Indiana. He currently shares the No. 12 all-time position with Domantas Sabonis of Sacramento.
However, the two-time league MVP has really seized control of the Bucks’ Central Division opponents during the last four seasons. Starting with 12 games in 2020–21, the 29-year-old has:
- 64 points, or one franchise scoring milestone
- Three Double-Trips
- Three games with fifty points or more
- Five Games with 40 or more points
Antetokounmpo has averaged 38.0 points per game on 68.2% shooting, 13.6 rebounds, and 6.1 assists in his previous twelve games against Indiana.
That output has mostly originated from the free-throw line.
Antetokounmpo has made 18, 13, and 32 trips to the free-throw line in his last three games against Indiana this season. Before the game, Rick Carlisle was asked how his team might prevent so many trips to the charity stripe. He stopped for four seconds, then said, “Have any ideas?”
“You see, there’s no denying his greatness,” Carlisle went on. “He causes a great deal of trouble. We’re still working on it. There’s no one blueprint that will work every time or that is 100% reliable. It is further made difficult by the amount of firing that is going on around him. Thus, yes.
Up before Monday, Antetokounmpo had averaged 17.5 free throw attempts per game over the previous six games versus Indiana. The Pacers were able to stop that on New Year’s Day a little better since Antetokounmpo went 8 of 11 from the free throw line.
Tyrese Haliburton maintains consistency before dominating Indiana
Tyrese Haliburton, an Oshkosh native who was an all-star for the first time last season, has made that distinction seem insignificant, and he is now talking about starting games and being named an all-NBA player as one of the league’s top guards. He had averaged 23.5 points and 15.8 assists per game during his previous six games going into the New Year, and he had recorded back-to-back outings of at least 20 points and 20 assists in the previous two games.
However, the Bucks prioritized him right away, starting Giannis Antetokounmpo and other defenders in addition to guard Malik Beasley.
Despite only scoring eight points on 3-of-10 shooting in the first half, Haliburton contributed six assists and a steal to keep his team in the game against the Bucks. The Bucks also had him commit two turnovers, which is quite noteworthy. Prior to the game, Haliburton had twelve games (five of which had no turnovers) with two or fewer turnovers.
“To be really honest with you, I think we did a good job on him on the switches in the first half,” Antetokounmpo remarked. “He was unable to descend. When Brook returned, he was able to break free from the pick-and-roll and hit floaters and pocket twos. As you can see, the majority of the points he scored were from lobs. However, we managed to keep Brook away from him and sort of pre-rotate. Whenever Brook came out, I would take him, or Malik may take him, or I would take him and observe, and we would make sure he did not fall.
Even though his team was down by 15 points in the third quarter with less than five minutes remaining, the point guard remained composed and didn’t push anything in the second half. Instead, he was the driving force behind a protracted comeback that gave the Pacers the advantage early in the fourth.
Later, with his main defender (Beasley) deep in foul trouble, Haliburton launched an offensive and finished with nine points to give his side the victory and secure the season series against the Bucks.
Haliburton ended with nine rebounds, 11 assists, and 26 points on 11 of 22 shooting. Moreover, and maybe more significantly for his team, he did not mishandle the ball once more following the interval.
The Pacers make an effort to irritate Bobby Portis.
Following a heated game on December 13 that saw Bobby Portis be expelled after receiving two of the game’s eight technical fouls, Portis was asked on Sunday whether there would be any carryover between the clubs.
With a giggle, Portis remarked that 2024 was a new year and the Bucks were concentrating on themselves.
Although the Pacers obviously didn’t forget, that may be the case.
Isaiah Jackson of Indiana fouled out hard in the first quarter while attempting to get a rebound over Portis. He stood up to try to go to Portis, but teammates quickly stopped him. Although Jackson seemed to snag Portis’ arm as he leaped for the ball and crashed hard, Portis was called for a loose ball foul. The two had a past together, as Jackson’s nose was cut by Portis during an offensive play by the Bucks forward in the previous game.
Then, when Ben Mathurin was fouled in the second quarter, Pacers player T.J. McConnell trailed Portis around the floor. As he went away, McConnell was given a technical, and Portis shoved him aside.
Maybe it worked, because after the whistle in the fourth quarter, Portis fouled McConnell one more time to get a technical foul. This season, it was Portis’ fifth technical foul.
Portis shot just 4 of 12 for 8 points in the game, including 0 of 4 from beyond the three-point arc. In addition, he got four personal fouls and five rebounds.
Bucks observe a video vigil in memory of Sen. Herb Kohl.
Public address announcer Eric Jensen of the Bucks offered a tribute to former club owner and state senator Herb Kohl, who passed away on December 27 following a brief illness prior to tip-off. A minute of silence was observed by the venue in honor of Kohl, who owned the Bucks from 1985 to 2014 and was instrumental in keeping the team in Milwaukee on many occasions.
In 2020, he participated in the team parade and received a title ring.The group then showed a video homage to the late Senator during the first quarter stoppage.
5 numbers
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been penalized for three 10-second infractions so far this season after his effort at a free shot in the third quarter was ruled invalid due to excessive time.
8:32 Due to many early Bucks fouls, there was still time in the first half when the Pacers were called for a penalty. During that period, Indiana shot 14 of 17 from the free-throw line, while Milwaukee was called for 10 personal fouls during the game. At 5:39 in the quarter, Indiana committed its first foul and was given three warnings. The Pacers overcame a 15-point deficit in the first quarter and increased their lead to six points in the second quarter, in part because of the free throws.
So far this season, Bucks players have been assessed 24 technical fouls.
The Bucks averaged 131.5 points per game in December of that year, going 11-2. In NBA history, this month has had the most points scored.
259.5 The point total is as per BetMGM’s over/under. In this aspect, the teams are still breaking records. According to ESPN, the NBA’s Dec. 7 over/under of 257.5 was the highest since 1991. Then, the over/under for the game on December 13 was 258.5. The Pacers had the top scoring offense in the NBA going into the game (126.6), while the Bucks had the second-best (125.0).
When did the Bucks and Pacers last play each other?
In addition to his 64 points, Antetokounmpo also caused a stir by running down the Pacers tunnel after numerous contentious postgame exchanges between several players on each side.
For a more thorough account of the events that preceded those discussions, go here.
In the game, Bobby Portis was also called for a technical foul, along with numerous other Pacers players.
