FIRST TAKE | Indiana 4-1 vs Giannis – Stephen A. on Pacers use 47-point 3rd quarter to beat Bucks

FIRST TAKE | Indiana 4-1 vs Giannis – Stephen A. on Pacers use 47-point 3rd quarter to beat Bucks

Does naptown own Milwaukee in the battle of the Midwest the Pacers have now beaten the Bucks four out of five times this season after Indie defended home court last night in a 12-point win Yannis explain it now you you have that uh and you think about it now when you go back home

And you sleep and you wake up you think about it now when you go back and uh work out you think about it in the allar break when you’re going to be in exotic uh beach with your family I hope you think about it you’re about to get freaky at night

You think about it you know um but at the end of the day it’s good because now it gives us time to fix things that’s a whole lot right there um Wendy I’ll start with you so the Pacers four wins in five games versus the Bucks is this something or

Nothing it’s something Stephen A this is my 21st year covering the NBA I don’t want to sound like mad dog talking about George Mikan and Dolph shaves I don’t want to be labeled and old I want to be on The Cutting Edge but damn it when I was raised learning this

Game I learned that you had to play defense if you were going to win that’s right you’re you know and I know that you know like last year Denver they were like in the middle of the pack defensively and they were an awesome offensive team and you could argue they

They are The Cutting Edge of the new era but they were good in the playoffs on defense yeah it’s awesome for the Pacers that they’ve won four out of these five games I would love to see this become a real rivalry with a playoff matchup which is possible depending on how these

Two teams finish and yeah Milwaukee is really good they’re 24 and 10 Dame Lillard has been terrific he’s great in these late game situations Chris Middleton’s come back from offseason surgery and rounded into form and of course Giannis is having an MV VP level season but I just have a hard time

Respecting Milwaukee’s chances to win again when you’ve got a bottom 10 defense when you can have a game where you can give up 47 points in a quarter which is what happened in the third quarter last night and the reason the Pacers have have handled Milwaukee is

Because they play small and they play fast and Milwaukee can’t handle it they have a giant hole on their team they cannot defend they’ve made decisions on their perimeter that have just turned it into swiss cheese and Stephen A it’s not just about the Pacers it’s about the Bucks being both powerful and

Susceptible and they are as susceptible of a championship Contender defensively as you can have in the modern NBA couple of things that we need to say number one we know that Damen lill is a superstar we understand that and we know that he’s been exceptional for the most part but

His defense has been questionable to be kind and when you’re the replacement and when you’re the replacement to Drew holiday okay the reality of the situation is is that one or two things got to happen you have to elevate your level of defensive prowess or you have to be so explosive so otherworldly

Offensively that it offsets what you’re lacking defensively that’s number one number two you just talked about how Indiana goes small this is the NBA you know what other teams are going to do look at what Indiana is doing and make sure they do it because what you’re talking about with

The Indiana Paces eight different Paces average double digit scoring against Milwaukee in the five matchups the season that is a fact and so when you look at it from that perspective we go small you can’t stop us why because Brook Lopez is out he can’t be out there

Yis an the Cooper and stuff like that he’s gonna be out there but in the end can you guard the smaller dudes no they can’t halberton is having a field day with them we all know this okay they busting there living you know what and I’m telling you this right now I’m not

Wishing for this we all know where I stand in terms of black coaches having opportunities and getting opportunities I don’t think there’s anybody that have spoke out about that more than me having said that fair is fair Adrien Griffin is gonna get himself fired I don’t care that they’re 23 and six against

Everybody else outside of their one and four record against the Indiana Pacers you are the successor to Mike buen hoser when have we complained about a Mike buenos a defense think about that and so when you look at it from that perspective and you know the ingredients to winning has already been displayed

Because you’re just a few years removed from capturing a championship nobody is going to go for this level of poorest defense that we’ve been seeing from the Milwaukee Bucks we said Boston Milwaukee I watched the Miami Heat last night Miami could beat Milwaukee again and oh by the way Philly could beat Milwaukee

Milwaukee might not even be a top 14 when all is said and done if they keep this nonsense up they better get it together especially coach Adrien Griffin and they’ve got a lot of road games coming up especially out west so they’re going to be challenged the Bucks have a

Chance to turn it around but they got they they have played a generally softer schedule lot a lot of road games coming up for them yep uh the Bucks are SE spee spee spee can see spee foree foreign speech Lane Tower is under attack foree spe our Dragon Lane Tower is under attack

Defense line has disappeared Thea our Middle Lane Tower is under attack Al our Middle Lane Tower is under attack tower under attack mle Tower is under For hell en your team has destroyed Aing he Caners Your Tower Desty your team destroyed ah d Lan Tower ATT fore spee spee Victory

FIRST TAKE | Indiana 4-1 vs Giannis – Stephen A. on Pacers use 47-point 3rd quarter to beat Bucks