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How the Indiana Pacers overcame an awful shooting night to be Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks



How the Indiana Pacers overcame an awful shooting night to be Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks

Pacers are undefeated in 2024 they go into Milwaukee they beat the Bucks there’s no drama this time and yet the Pacers shoot five for 35 from deep and when how they get it done it’s all coming today on the locked on Pacers podcast you are locked on Pacers your

Daily Indiana Pacers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day happy Tuesday y’all and happy New Year welcome into the first 2024 edition of the lock on Pacers podcast where we of course talk about the Indiana Pacers as always my name’s Tony East I cover the

Team for Forbes and Si and today we are in Milwaukee if you’re watching on YouTube I’m literally on the court of the five Sur form uh that might make vers audio hiccups I could not find any quiet place in this Arena to do this so

We’ll do our best but we’re in the five Ser Forum because that’s where the Pacers just played and they beat Milwaukee and they beat Giannis and they didn’t have to shoot ridiculously well from three to do it and they didn’t need someone to be out for the bucks to do it

A healthy Bucks team a healthy Pacers team the Pacers didn’t even play that well and they win in Milwaukee such an impressive win by the Pacers who keep finding this gritty defensive level and finding ways to win this is their fourth win in a row to kickoff a very important

Month for them we have so much to talk about from this game how they won despite shooting so poorly super impressive game from their bench who had 70 points mine was fantastic TJ McConnell was completely brilliant and the Pacers have beaten the Milwaukee Bucks three times out of four if you had

Told me that before this season I would never have believed you and I will start with that because I’ve said this too much and I now I cannot say this anymore the Pacers have shut me up I said I I’ve said forever the Pacers never beat the Bucks especially when Yannis plays they

Beat them last year in Milwaukee when Yannis played that was like their only win over Giannis since 2018 they have now beaten the bucks with Giannis three times times this season that’s already a very impressive glow up for the Pacers as a team Giannis was as usual fantastic

With a 30-point triple double but the Pacers found they they were doubling him early they were Walling him off in ways that they weren’t before and he had 11 assist he got the ball out but they’re willing to live with that if it means he doesn’t score 64 and shoot 32 free

Throws those were impressive adjustments but the starting point here for me is usually earlier this season even when they’ve beaten yianis they’ve shot well they shot well Indie uh early in November they shot moderately well in the inseason tournament semi-finals not amazing but well tonight they shot five

For 35 from deep and they won I mean that is unreal to me that the the Indiana Pacers the 2023 24 Indiana Pacers can win a game making five threes that already warrants a discussion but just to historically contextualize how unusual that poor of a shooting night is

In Victory the last time the Pacers won a game in which they shot under 20% from three reminder they shot five for 35 that’s 14.3% the last time they shot under 20% one was November 1st 2019 they beat the Cavs 10295 that night the Cavs leading score

Was Kevin Love and their second leading scorer was Colin seon the Pacers were led by 25 from Brogden and 21 from Jeremy Lamb and they W that was the last time shooting under 20% last time they won a game shooting under 15% from three like they did tonight was febru 8

2016 2016 the final score in that game against the Lakers who sucked that year was 8987 unbelievable the Lakers leading score that night was Kobe Bryant their second leading score that night was D’Angelo Russell I mean this we’re talking eons ago it’s funny to say DLo with the Lakers their third leading

Scorer was Julius Randall the Pacers leading score was Paul George with 21 their second leading scorer George Hill and their third leading score still with the facers Miles Turner but I mean we’re talking nearly eight years ago it is very hard to win shooting that bad from

Three and the Pacers this season do not win if they shoot poorly from three I historical context is fun because it tells you how much of an outlier of a game you just saw but I mean the Pacers this season shooting under 30% from Deep have won once and it was funnily enough

Against the Bucks in the inseason tournament semi-finals but under 30% it’s been a death sentence for them heck under 37% they’ve only won three times this season which is its own thing to talk about with the Fishers they’re great at generating open threes but I mean they they don’t win shooting poorly

From three it’s not something they’ve done all season so to only make five tonight which is tied for their lowest the other time they made five was in Boston when they lost by 51 points the all the rest of their times under 10 they’ve just completely looked miserable

Again outside of beating Milwaukee in the inseason tournament the game in orl the game against Orlando they lost by 40 their terrible loss against Portland and getting blown out in Minnesota where the other times under 10 I think I’ve provided enough context to tell you how

Unusual it is for the Pacers both this season and historically to not only win shooting five for 35 from deep but played pretty well right they they they were down 15 twice so that’s gonna sound like the Pacers did not play well but if you looked at the game too like you look

At a game chart of who had the lead and win you would think the Bucks dominated right but really the game was really close for the first four minutes the Bucks went on a huge tear and then the Pacers bench came in and got the lead back and then it was close until

Halftime and then it was like a three-point game for the first couple minutes of the first half and then the buck starters went on a huge tear and then the Pacers bench came in and changed the game again so it looks like the Bucks were dominating but that’s

Just because for much of the first and third quarter when the game was like within five points and no one’s really dominating in a five-point game the Bucks were ahead for like all of that time but outside of those runs from the Bucks like in the middle of the first

And third quarter it really felt like the Pacers were the better team for much of this game despite just a miserable shooting game and that was going to be the story I I always mid game am thinking about headlines because I have to write about games too and I thought

Poor three-point shooting Dooms Pacers in important game versus bucks but they overcame it they overcame it no Pacer made more than one three Tyrus halberton was one for seven Ben ma was one for five Obe toppen was one for three Jaylen Smith was one for six Aaron E Smith was

One for seven everybody else missed every three they took and the Pacers won so I’ve given you enough context and nonsense numbers to say wow this is crazy that they won how how did they overcome this how are they able to win a game in which those numbers that I just

Yelled at you for seven minutes basically happen well Rick Carlile talked about a key one and this is something I harp on a lot when I talk about this Pacers team but really any team this is something that NBA teams have become more to focus on kind of in

Recent Seasons I think the Memphis Grizzlies were really the pioneers of this The Possession game having more chances than your opponent is is usually a typical way to swing a game in your favor so how do you get more possessions offensive rebounds are a good way forcing turnovers are a good way taking

Care of the ball yourself those are the best ways to have more possessions okay so the Pacers had 14 offensive rebounds they outrebounded the Bucks 5246 they had six more offensive rebounds right so there’s in theory six five whatever extra chances for the Pacers to score either inside the arcer getting fouled

Or whatever the Pacers only had seven turnovers in this entire game right they were they did a great job taking care of the ball giving themselves chances they had two turnovers in the second half right so they every time they came down the floor they were getting a shot up or

Getting fouled or something right that is in general a very good way to combat missing is giving yourself lots of chances from two at the F line and the Bucks had 11 turnovers and they had eight offensive rebounds so you can if you stack those two stats together four

More turnovers for the bucks and six more offensive rebounds for the Pacers that’s like 10 extra shots so the pucks didn’t shoot like amazing themselves in fact they were 10 for 40 that’s pretty bad but you can overcome making five fewer three and having an awful night

From Deep yourself if you have almost a dozen extra chances created from extra possessions and the stacking thing from that to me is a lot of times when I talk about extra possessions I immediately point at Raw shot totals and that can be instructive there’s a little under the

Surface stuff you have to get to and so in this game You’ look at that and you’d say the Bucks took 93 shots and they shot 44.1% and the Pacers took 97 shots and shot 44.3% that’s a close shooting percentage and the bucks made more threes so I still haven’t really

Explained how the Pacers did this but they took more shots here’s the differentiator though the Pacers got to the foul line a ton in this game way more than the Bucks remember Giannis took over 30 free throws himself last time the Bucks as a team took 26 in this

Game that’s still a lot Giannis took 11 the Pacers took 38 free throws tonight they were attacking the rim like crazy in their best stretches they were getting into the paint they were making it happen 38 free throws for the Pacers a season High uh by five free throw

Attempts they’ve been over 30 five times before tonight and they haven’t even been particularly fantastic in those games although they do win a lot when they get to the line they only have one win all season uh in their it looks like a eight games shooting under 17 free

Throws like getting to the line is obviously valuable free throws are efficient shots the Pacers live there tonight more than they have all season and they deserve credit for playing in a way that got them shots at The Rim you can just look at their shot chart and

See that they were getting into the paint they were getting close to the rim for their shots so the here’s what the Pacers did well to overcome a port an awful shooting night just completely troes they attacked the paint like crazy they hit their like eight mid-range

Shots they didn’t turn the ball over and they crushed it on the offensive glass and that is how the Milwaukee Bucks and yanis anen koo’s triple double was not enough to beat the Pacers who couldn’t make a three to save their life I can’t believe that’s a sentence that exists

But that is what the Pacers earned me saying by playing fantastic in just about every other aspect of the game that you can talk about credit to the Pacers they’ve won four straight they’re 18 and 14 that’s how you kick off the toughest month of your season they get

These guys again on Wednesday we have plenty more to talk about from this game the Pacers bench Halbert Ma and McConnell is this survival re kind of we have a lot to talk about still but first got to talk to you guys about the lovely people over at prize picks the

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Deposit match up to $100 again you have to go to prix.com lockon NBA and use that code lockon NBA when you sign up for a first deposit match up to $100 at prize picks daily fantasy sports Made Easy back here on lockon Pacers thanks for making us your first listen today

And every single day here in the New Year we’re leveling up I see a lot of goals for content for people who want to get more listeners and that’s awesome I want to talk to as many people as possible I want to make locked on Pacers better than last year that’s my only

Goal every year and I hope to do that make your second list in locked on bucks another fantastic lock on podcast to hear about their perspective from the loss what the Bucks did poorly they also shot poorly in this game jamen Lillard did not have the impact he would want

Three for 16 credit to the Pacers for some of that and the Pacers late in the game hunted Malik Beasley a lot is that something the Bucks need to worry about lock on bucks will have those answers that is something micro in this game that I want to talk about for a second

Is the Pacers close to the game before we get into any specific players and how they did because it was really funny looking through this game after the third quarter because the first and third quarter were extremely similar in fact two a te similar number first quarter close for the first four minutes

Bucks Surge and they go up exactly 15 and then the bench comes in for the Pacers and chops that lead down significantly in fact they got it down to seven at the end of the first quarter which was very important to go down from

Down 15 to down seven in a big game like this mattered a great deal Pacers had more confidence they knew their bench was clicking and they took the lead in the second quarter but noteworthy the Bucks took the lead back by halftime they were up seven at or six I believe

At the break of this game then the third quarter happened similar deal first four minutes pretty close game you know five six four whatever and then the Bucks starter Surge and go 15 and then the Pacers cut it close and they were down four at the end of of the third so the

Question was going into the fourth had the Pacers learned enough throughout the game to have a different fourth quarter than second quarter or was just the game flow with the lineups with the Stars going to mean the Pacers would take a lead with the bench guys and then the

Buck starters would take back over and close it out just like the first half and the bench Pacers bench took a lead early in the fourth and the Bucks got the lead back the Bucks were ahead Giannis and Dame had just come back in and I thought okay this is going to be

Tough right Dame and Giannis are plus a billion at this point of the game the bench had been their only working thing for much of this game right Giannis finishes plus three Dame finishes plus four a lot of Pacer starters were big in the negatives right outside of halber

They all were you know I thought that maybe this would be tough but the Pacers and Rick Carlile to his credit stuck with a lot of bench guys madon was in a lot to close T.J McConnell was in a lot to close Obi toppen played a little more

In the second half in the first half they found the combo of guys that were giving the Bucks the most fits and rolled with them more than the starters Jaylen Smith awful night for Jay Smith night to forget only played 11 and a half minutes inur Mard got hurt in the

First half which also changed things uh I have no idea what that flashing is I hope that’s not a fire alarm for those of you watching on YouTube um and Buddy heel didn’t play as much in the second half he did not hit a shot they found a

Better rotation and that flipped the game and then late you know it kept getting choppy the Bucks were doing a good job keeping it close like with five minutes to go the Pacers end up winning this game by nine right it looks like they closed it out really well we’re

Losing light this is going to be tough to see if we finish this out uh before they kick me out of this Arena um with five minutes to go it’s a two-point game right that it was not like the Pacers were playing awesome at this time the

Bucks had it to five with three and a half minutes to go like they were really doing a good job keeping it close they got it to five with two minutes to go I still thought there was a chance that this game would be tough for the Pacers

To officially close out in a meaningful way and then they were fantastic and perfect for the last about seven eight possessions that they had they scored on all of them and they got a lot of stops and they did it some of those right side mid-range shots I was talking about

Earlier were important but they just targeted Malik Beasley in a bunch of pick and rolls sometimes it was halberton who hit back toback pull-up jumpers with about two minutes to go he had another one with about a minute to go sometimes it was McConnell who was either drawing fouls or getting to that

Spot he hit a big turnaround fade away with about four and a half minutes to go and then got fouled on the next possession you could point to a lot of things the Pacers did well but offensively they found a matchup they liked and they targeted and Beasley

Would try to hide on either of those guards but McConnell Halburn were playing so well it wasn’t working right so credit the Pacers for attacking that matchup and they defended really well in the fourth quarter and really for a lot of this game and really for a lot of the

Stretch since that key practice before the Hornets game that I’ve already talked about um but credit to the Pacers for for what they did in the fourth quarter bucks scored 51 points in the second half that’s a very good half for the Pacers defensively especially given their offensive output in this game they

Scored 38 themselves in the fourth right I I know that the Pacers numbers are high compared to other teams but just given what their season is here their opponent totals since that Key Practice on December 19th the day before they played the Hornets they refocused on defense they tweaked some things they

Change their priorities a little bit and here’s what they’ve seen since 113 for the Hornets 116 for the Grizzlies in a loss 117 for the Magic in a loss 117 for the rockets in a win 104 for the Bulls in a win 126 that was their worst night

For the Knicks in a win and then now 113 for the bucks in a win my meno line for lack of a better term for the Pacers and victory has been like 125 given what their offensive output has been they’ve been below 125 offensively in a lot of

Those games their Pace has been a little slower in fact they’ve only cracked one 25 twice in that stretch but they’ve defended so well it hasn’t mattered at all they’ve been fantastic on that end of the floor and they were really great defensively late in this game they were

Really good on both ends in the fourth quarter of this game but their defense stood out once again a lot of guys deserve credit for that but everybody who defended Demian Lillard did a really good job Andrew neard in the first half in his small amount of playing time did

A pretty good job with that TJ McConnell did a fantastic job with that and Ben maen attacked Lillard on both ends both as an offensive player with the ball and defending him locking him up on the defensive end so credit to everybody for stepping up in that way and that is my

Brief transition into talking about Benedict Maan who just should play the Bucks every night can that be a thing that somehow happens can Benedict Maan be given goggles that makes it so it seems like he’s playing against the Bucks every single time he steps on the floor if you’ll remember the first big

Night he had this season where his stats really took off and he was clear that he was kind of turning a little bit of a corner 26 points 11 rebounds was against the bucks right in the inseason tournament against the bucks he had six rebounds a key assist and was plus 17

Off the Bench against the Bucks last month he had a ice game 14 points Off the Bench he got to the foul line 10 times in that game and then today maybe even better 25 points plus 22 13 rebounds for Ben manderin he was one for five from deep but fantastically eight

For10 inside the arc and took nine free throws he was attacking the rim like crazy on all of his touches he was making quick decisions we talked about that a lot with him this season but the key thing for mine’s Effectiveness going from pretty good to Fantastic or

Whatever level you want to use to describe his play is generally how quick he makes his decisions catch go if he knows the plays called for him he’s very good at this but he’s been getting better all season and Carlile talked about this after the game and even in in

Free flowing States or in you know more random offensive situations being able to identify what opportun he’s going to have on the catch right away his teammates have been encouraging him his coach has been encouraging him to catch shoot and you know he said that’s getting more natural for him I asked him

About that after the game he did that a couple times tonight and then he had W ugly three on Brook Lopez in the third quarter where you saw the opposite where he catches he shot fakes Brook Lopez closes out he dribbles to his left once

And Lopez is right in his face for a contest and he misses you can see the value so easily of how much better Benedict Maan is when he catches and goes right away and he did that fantastically in this game all night on offense punishing the Bucks getting into

The paint making their life hard defensively making them rotate and so he didn’t have any assists himself but I think he had some hockey assists he kept the ball popping he made it hard for the bucks all night and you can look at his shot plot specifically and it’s very

Clear why he was so good he missed one shot in the paint and all the rest of his misses were from three or along two all the rest of his shots and successes came because he scored right around the rim all of his makes were basically

Right there only one of his makes was more than like four feet from the basket credit to him for getting by everybody on the Bucks in his way for getting to the basket for making the Bucks rotate and for being so big for that second group Off the Bench they needed somebody

To step up and be huge and he was huge early in the game and he continued that into the second half I think his first half really changed the game for the Pacers he had 12 points and three boards in that first half and was plus three it was maybe their most consistent

Offensive threat he led them in scoring with that 12 at halftime so credit to Ben Maan he does very well against the Bucks all season their plus minus has been good against the Bucs all season with m on the floor and he once again was fantastic in this game against

Milwaukee T.J McConnell was great Tyrese Halbert was great in his home state getting his first win in Wisconsin where he’s from we have to talk about those two guys to close out Today’s show but first we got to talk about the lovely people over at FanDuel the NFL regular

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Plenty more over there spreads player props whatever you like fanduel’s got it so visit fanduel.com lockon and make your first bet a layup over on FanDuel an official partner of the NFL back here lock on Pacers thanks for making us your first listen today and every single day the Raptors won their

First game with Emanuel quickly and RJ Barrett the Knicks won their first game with ogn and Obi and Company check out lockon Nicks and lockon Raptors for more on that trade and the debut of the new players in new cities I was going to talk a little about anobi today uh but a

Lot happened in Escape that is worth talking about and we’ll talk more about the Bucs with Tha Windish tomorrow so maybe an anobi talk will be relegated to Thursday or Friday we’ll get to that trade it does matter for the Pacers certainly that a player who would fit

Them very well is no longer on the trade market tyres halberton fantastic game in his home state he’s never won in Milwaukee obviously he only played them once a year his first two seasons with the Kings uh a West Coast team does not travel to the east very much uh but but

With the Pacers he did not play in the game they won here last season uh when they were able to win against the Giannis infused bucks and he’ only beaten them at home or in Las Vegas prior to today so big game for him he had I forget the number he said dozens

Hundreds a lot of people are were here to see him there were a lot of people here to see him last time ashkash not super far here from Milwaukee and he was really special couldn’t hit a three one for seven no one could hit a three on

The Pacers I’m not going to criticize halber for that he was one rebound off a triple double right which would have in his second of his career he finished with 26 points nine boards 11 assists and was 10 for 15 inside the arc special player getting to the rim and this was

Key for the Pacers right the three is not falling and they still took some they’re they’re a three-point shooting team but they were good at adjusting and attacking the rim whenever they could and halberton was was good at that too and this was a classic halberton game to

Me right you know the his best games not his best games a classic halberton game to me is a tough one like this where you know he’s getting a lot of defensive attention and he’s still passing well but you can’t really feel his scoring impact and you can tell he can do more

And he always can tell he can do more so at halftime he get eight points six assist five boards pretty good but he was three for 10 right and you just know something happens at halftime he talks to Rick or he talks to his team or someone draws up something and he’s

Gonna find a way to be better and in the second half of this game he was eight for 12 he had 18 points he had five assists again four rebounds plus 13 in the second half in the first half Tyrese halberton was minus 18 right like it was

Very significant you could tell that they figured that out and he was way better in the second half and that was huge to get his first win here uh you know State that’s very important to him uh the closest NBA team to him growing up was was a big deal took him forever

To to get off the court because he was talking to so much family after the game and he he was massive in the second half he was massive in the clutch as usual would have been very cool for him to get a triple double back here uh in his home

State it was not to be uh but he was fantastic it’s hard to to poke holes in one rebound and again would have been his second ever triple double maybe the hero of the night uh was T.J McConnell Obi toppen had a better plus minus when

Toppen was out there the Pacers did well toin defending a little better recently uh but he was just making quality plays like he only had 113 and two was plus 35 TJ McConnell was the engine for so much of the Pacers success in this game the

Pacers bench this was the key stat that kept getting talked about post game 25 from maen 11 from topen 18 from Isaiah Jackson who’s not going to get enough shine on this podcast just because of how good a ton of other players were and 16 from McConnell that’s 70 points off

The bench for the Indiana Pacers they were all fantastic right and that some of that was at the Bucks bench was just terrible I me they were cves they couldn’t make shots Bobby poris was four for2 Pat conon was one for three Camp Payne was one for four Andre Jackson

Didn’t even attempt a shot the Pacers slaughtered the Bucks bench but they deserve a ton of credit for those offensive players and their style being really good right I talked a lot about that unit that second group not having a lot of shooting and that being a

Weakness for them and I still think it is in fact they made two threes in this game that still stands to reason and Buddy heeld was not good in this game right despite the bench success he was not a good player but they are good at

Attacking the rim and so even without a ton of spacing today the Bucks defense was letting them get into the paint and McConnell was the king of that he cannot be deterred I wrote last year about his low center of gravity and how that helps him get into the paint he’s good at

Those little Mash moves where he turns around and looks like he’s retreating he just whips around and attacks the basket he’s Scrappy so he just ends up with loose ball to get him into good positions like he was everywhere for the Pacers bench tonight and that let him be

Be in the paint and be paint to great as the Pacers like to say 16 points which Chels his offensive impact short he missed two free throws late he missed some shots that he normally makes but a lot of it came in the second half when he was getting to that little tosser

Fadeaway thing he likes 12 of his 16 points were in the second half nine assists uh over half of those were in the second half he had five assists in the second half on his way to being plus 31 they closed with TJ McConnell and some of that was so they could attack

Malik Beasley and some of that was because T.J McConnell earned it by playing an absolutely fantastic basketball game and some of that was that Andrew nard hurt his back I think he’ll be fine I don’t know how if this will be a longterm thing or anything but

I could see him walking around in the game uh T.J McConnell though was just awesome right not like his greatest statline ever but to see that kind of stat line four rebounds as well and every time he was out there good things were happening I mean you could just see

What it was and similar to maen like if you pull up his shot chart you’ll see exactly why he was so his longest shot was like a 10-footer from just inside the right elbow but he was threatening enough that he shot fig to three late in

The game and the Bucks were scared of it they he drove a bunch of Threes in this building last year and he’s not hasn’t been a shooter this year and he’s not even taking him hardly he only took one in this game but he was just so

Threatening the way he was able to make the Pacers offense move the way he was able to attack poor defense from the Bucks make their defense rotate you know on a nightwear that kind of stuff wasn’t as important because three-point shots weren’t falling he was still able to be

Absolutely fantastic he had to to be out there in key moments because he was so good the Bucs had no answer for him and the Jackson excuse me the McConnell plus Halbert lineups were fantastic and that’s how the Pacers were able to win a game in Milwaukee where they were awful

At their best thing shooting threes getting up open threes creating open threes a very valuable skill they were not doing great at it in this game but they get it done by a ton of guys I guess I’ll talk about them isaah Jackson was phenomenal he was providing

Toughness he got into with Bobby poris early setting that tone nine rebounds 18 he was special look I know the Pacers don’t want it to be like a big deal but what happened last time they were in this building with the game ball with the drama with the fracus as Ricard

Called it I mean it’s gonna be a bigger game the next time they play that team here’s my thesis I’m gonna talk about this with Ty Windish of eurostep tomorrow because the Bucks and Pacers it’s rivalry might be a strong term I like Tyrese halbert’s way of talking

About it but I’m gonna Infuse my own thoughts tyes halberton does not think it’s a rivalry because the Pacers haven’t been in the postseason and that’s where really these get born and the Bucks have won a championship right like they’re on different planes as teams it’s hard for that to be a rivalry

My take is it is a developing rivalry and the biggest reason for that is twofold one is they played the inseason tournament which is a bigger game that’s almost a playoff game and the Pacers won that and the Bucks were not happy about that and halberton did the Dame

Celebration after that game although they were both cordial about that the other reason I think this is blooming more than it could beyond the inseason tournament game and these are tied together that they’re gonna play five times in two months right the first time they played was mid November they’re

About to play their Fifth and final game of the season on Wednesday so you’ve seen them you’ve seen that team a ton of times you’ve had drama with them you’ve had important games with them I think it’s Justified to call it a rivalry I don’t know if others will um Tyrese

Halberton didn’t use that word and I think his justification makes a ton of sense but clearly there’s a lot of intensity to this game T.J McConnell got a tech in this one Bobby poris got a tech in this one I mean there’s going to be intensity to these Bucs games there’s

Going to be intensity Wednesday some of it season tournament some of it’s the game ball stuff some of it’s playing that team five times in Rapid succession some of it’s that it’s a divisional foe you can name any number of things but this is something it’s a little more

Intense it’s a little more to it there was an article in the Journal Sentinel in here in Milwaukee about the handshakes after the last game instead of the game ball being something that rubbed the Bucks the long wrong way ESPN had a little on that too so there’s a

Lot to this there’s a lot to what this has become we’ll see what it develops into I’ll write a little bit about it uh because I was here and asked a lot of guys questions about it we’ll see what it develops into but they will play the Bucks again on Wednesday so tomorrow

Like I said Tai Windish love Tai coverage of the bucks he’s going to join lock down Pacers to talk about these two teams their head-to-head matchups is it a rivalry we’ll discuss that a little bit uh and what we expect from Wednesday’s game it’s very hard to beat

The same team twice in a row so I think it’ll be tough for the Pacers uh from a mental perspective but we’ll see they have beaten the Bucks twice in a row already once this season I’ll be it spread out not back toback G games thank you all for listening today first show

Of 2024 I think it went well despite lots of people walking around behind me and the lighting changing and me being on the Travel setup at the last time on the Travel setup hopefully until at least at least March uh we’ll see though I I think this is the end of the holiday

And and sporting event travel for me for a while uh I hope you guys have enjoyed this stuff though being at these events is fantastic couldn’t do it without you guys listening and interacting with me here’s to a better 2024 of good Pacers coverage you can find me on Twitter at

Tony R East and this show at lock on Pacers easiest way to interact with me is that way or commenting Down Below on YouTube if you’re watching on that thank you all a ton for listening more bucks Pacers talk tomorrow tell then everybody have a fantastic day

The Indiana Pacers took down the Milwaukee Bucks for the third time of the 2023-24 season on Monday night. How did the Pacers pull it off despite an atrocious night shooting the ball? Host Tony East breaks it down, including big games from Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, and T.J. McConnell. He also discusses Pacers-Bucks as a series and the bench having a terrific night.

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14 Comments

  1. Much different team without Holiday, Dame time don't show up on defense. The Pacers wanted every loose ball more then the Bucks, that was the difference

  2. They need to win again at indiana to make it clear that they are better than bucks.

    Really love to think the what ifs; if starting lineup is not struggling and 2nd unit is producing 50 points?that will be wow!!

  3. Anybody notice with a few seconds left in the game Mathurin was begging Haliburton for the ball? I guarantee if he got that ball he was going to go and dunk it and it would have caused all hell to break loose. Lol I wish he would have let Mathurin have it.

  4. Haliburton handed the Ball to the Ref at the end of regulation and did so demonstratively. I laughed so hard. I’m all aboard for that kind of pettiness 😂😂

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