Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Wildcard Edition
It’s a battle of teams from the Central Division on the hardwood when the teams meet in Cream City. The Indiana Pacers are on the road as they make the trip to face the Milwaukee Bucks Monday afternoon. Indiana comes in off a 130-112 home loss to Memphis in the second game of a back-to-back situation Saturday night, failing to cover as a 7.5-point underdog. Milwaukee dropped both games on the road to the Heat in South Beach as they fell 111-95 Saturday afternoon, failing to cover as a four-point underdog. In the all-time regular season series between the teams, the Bucks own a 111-91 advantage and have won the last eight meetings. That includes a 128-119 home win in the most recent matchup on February 15, 2022.
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Indiana dropped their third straight game as they were knocked off at home by Memphis Saturday night in the second game of a back-to-back set. The Pacers entered Sunday third in the division, 4.5 games behind Milwaukee for the top spot. They held the eighth seed in the playoff picture in the East, 1.5 games behind the Knicks for the final guaranteed spot, nine games behind Boston for the top spot and 3.5 games ahead of 11th-place Toronto to stay on the right side of the cut line. Against Memphis, Indiana trailed by eight after the opening quarter, rallied to tie the game at 41 only to get outscored 27-11 the rest of the half to trail by 16. The Pacers never got closer than 12 in the second half to take the loss. Indiana shot 36.9% from the field, including 11 of 47 from three-point range, and allowed Memphis to shoot 55.2% in the game. Chris Duarte led the way for Indiana with 25 points off the bench in the loss.
For the year, Indiana is 10th in the league in scoring offense with 115.4 points per game this season. The Pacers are 23rd in rebounding with an average of 42.3 boards a night while they are 5th in assists by dishing out 26.8 dimes per contest. Indiana is 21st in scoring defense as they allow an average of 115.9 points per game on the year. Tyrese Haliburton leads the Pacers in scoring with 20.2 points plus 10.2 assists per game. Bennedict Mathurin (17.3 points), Buddy Hield (18 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists), Myles Turner (17 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.3 blocks), Jalen Smith (10 points, 6.1 rebounds) and Chris Duarte are solid scoring options this season. Aaron Nesmith, Isaiah Jackson, Andrew Nembhard, Goga Bitadze, James Johnson, T.J. McConnell, Terry Taylor and Oshae Brissett are other rotation pieces for Indiana. The Pacers are 23rd in the league in field goal percentage as they are shooting 45.9% from the floor as a team. Indiana is 5th in the league in threes per game as they splash 14.1 triples per contest and the team is 12th by shooting 36.2% percent from beyond the arc on the year.
Daniel Theis (knee) had surgery in mid-November and is considered out indefinitely: he has yet to take the floor this season. Kendall Brown (leg) has been out since December 7 with a stress reaction and remains out indefinitely. Nesmith (illness), Turner (back spasms) and Bitadze (illness) each missed Saturday’s game and are considered day-to-day. Haliburton (knee) left Madison Square Garden on crutches January 11 and is expected to miss a couple of weeks. Watch for any updates on their statuses leading to tip-off.
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