INDIANA @ MILWAUKEE (IND -1, 232)
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PACERS VS. BUCKS 4/21/24
The Milwaukee Bucks, who entered the playoffs as the third seed in the Eastern Conference, had lost six of their previous eight games. The Bucks will try to get back on track tonight when they begin their first-round series at home against the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers. The issue for Milwaukee is the uncertainty surrounding the availability of stars Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
This season, Indiana (47-35) has defeated Milwaukee (49-33) in four of their five meetings, including one in a tournament setting in December's in-season tournament. Since April 9, Lillard has been treating hip and adductor soreness. He played against Orlando on April 10 and the Magic once more last Sunday. Lillard is listed as probable for tonight’s game. Antetokounmpo has a left calf injury that has kept him out of the Bucks last three games. He is out for tonight.
Throughout Milwaukee's season series with Indiana, Antetokounmpo averaged a strong 42.2 points and 13.0 rebounds. He erupted for a franchise single-game record 64 points on December 13, the day the Bucks defeated the Pacers 140-126.
Notably, the season series between the Pacers and Bucks ended on January 3. Twenty days later, Indiana signed forward Pascal Siakam, and Milwaukee fired first-year head coach Adrian Griffin and hired Doc Rivers in his place. A lot has changed since the two teams last played.
During the regular season, the Pacers led the NBA in scoring, averaging 123.3 points per game. They also led the league in assists with 30.8 per game. Siakam finished the season with 21.3 points and 7.8 rebounds in 41 games with the team, but Haliburton - 20.1 points and 10.9 assists in 69 games - was the team's star player this season. In five games against Milwaukee, Haliburton averaged 27.0 points and 11.0 assists.
Indiana was swept in the 2019 and 2020 postseasons, and they last prevailed in a postseason game in 2018. The last time the Pacers won a playoff series was 2014. Indiana enters this playoff series having won four of its previous five games. They were 4-1 SU and ATS against the Bucks this season.
Milwaukee went 3-3 in games without Antetokounmpo since the hiring of Rivers. The Bucks were 4-5 in the nine games he missed the entire season. The Bucks were just 2-6 SU and ATS in their final eight games of the regular season.
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FREE PICK: PACERS 2Q ML
If you didn’t know, Milwaukee will substitute for Lillard religiously in the second quarter. It’s like clockwork. Lillard will play most of, if not all, the first quarter and then he will take his longest rest of the game at the beginning of the second quarter. Indiana averages 31.1 points in the second quarter (No. 2 in the NBA) which is more than their 30.6 average in the first quarter. The Bucks production in the second quarter drops to 29.4 from 30.0 in the opening quarter. It’s a huge advantage for the Pacers and they will exploit it tonight.
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