The knockout punch the Indiana Pacers were anticipating from the Milwaukee Bucks finally connected. The Bucks found a way to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Indiana 117-101 in Game 3 on Friday night.
The victory gave the Bucks life and put them back in the series, trailing 2-1.
“We were bad on both sides of the ball,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “They were great; we were bad.”
Both teams started the game with less than stellar shooting, a combined 11 of 46 (23.9 percent) from beyond the arc in the first half. But with five minutes to play in the second quarter, the Pacers went on a 19-8 run to take a 57-47 lead at halftime.
“I thought we got a lot of good looks in the first half. (They) just didn’t drop for us,” Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton said. “We got a lot of good looks that just didn’t fall, and that theme kind of carried throughout the rest of the game.”
No team in NBA history has come back from being down 3-0 in a playoff series, and the Bucks came into Game 3 with their backs against the wall. Indiana had an opportunity to crush Milwaukee’s dreams and admirations in the series but could not keep their foot on the Bucks’ necks.
In the opening minute of the third quarter, Milwaukee trailed by 12, but the Bucks outscored the Pacers 39-18 and eventually turned that deficit into an eleven-point lead, 86-75. Gary Trent Jr. knocked down five triples, and the Bucks shot a red-hot 61.9 percent (13 of 21) from the floor, leaving the Pacers searching for answers. Indiana managed just six total field goals (6 of 19) and made 1 of 9 from downtown.
In winning time, when it mattered the most, the Pacers’ offensive struggles continued, and they saw their deficit grow to 20 points. Indiana managed to score just 44 points in the second half.
“We made some early defensive mistakes in the second half. We did some things that we weren’t supposed to be doing,” Carlisle said. “We gave up a couple of 3s, (their) momentum got going, and (we) got rolled,” Carlisle said.
In the first two games of the series, with Milwaukee veteran Damian Lillard not producing much offensively, after coming back from a serious blood clot, the Bucks failed to find scoring support for star Giannis Antetokounmpo, and his two 30-plus point efforts were not nearly enough to carry them. But Trent, who started at shooting guard in place of Taurean Prince, emerged as his partner in crime, delivering much-needed help, lighting up the Pacers with 37 points. He made 9 of 12 from distance, tying Hall of Famer Ray Allen’s franchise record for most 3s in a Bucks playoff game.
Embed from Getty ImagesHaliburton struggled to find a rhythm throughout the night, and chants of “overrated” came down from the Milwaukee crowd, after being voted the most overrated player in the NBA by his peers. After a 21-point and 12 assists performance in Game 2, he was held to 14 points. Haliburton made 5 of 11 shots from the field, including 4 of 9 from 3, and while he also had 10 dimes, it was the first time in the series he had had less than 12.
“We didn’t get enough stops. That’s probably the most they’ve scored in a quarter in the series,” Haliburton said. “We didn’t get enough stops without us playing in transition where we’re at our best. Our high court offense got a little stagnant. We were playing on our heels a little bit. That starts with me. We’ve got to a better job of getting downhill from the jump. I don’t see that happening again. That third quarter really came back to bite us.”
In the first half, Pascal Siakam and Aaron Nesmith shot 6-for-9 from the floor, while the rest of the Pacers were an ice-cold 11-for-32. Siakam finished with 28 points on 12-of-19 shooting, and Nesmith scored 18, connecting on 7 of 13 from the floor and 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
“I thought they had more physicality than us. They played a lot harder than we did,” Siakam said of the Bucks. “We just got to go back, learn from it and come back and do better as a team.”
In the first two games, the Pacers had six players in double figures giving them a balanced scoring attack to complement solid defensive showings. Friday night, Haliburton was the only other scorer in double figures.
Center Myles Turner also labored offensively, making only one of his nine field-goal attempts and none of his six tries from the perimeter. Andrew Nembhard, who has been critical for the Pacers on both ends of the floor in the first two games of the series, came back down to earth and was a quiet 2-for-8 from the field. Both finished with six points.
Game 4 of the series tips off at 9:30 p.m. ET Sunday at Fiserv Forum.
