Following a thrilling home win over the Houston Rockets Monday, the Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks couldn’t keep it going against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
The Bucks (25-36) fell just shy of completing a comeback attempt, falling 104-99 against the Pacers (32-29) Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee fell behind in the second quarter and was never able to fully erase the deficit.
“It was kind of a slugfest game,” Coach Kidd said. “Indiana is a team that’s going to make you play one way and they’ll make you pay if you don’t make shots or take care of the ball. In that first half, we didn’t do either. We didn’t make shots, we didn’t play defense.”
The first quarter was back and forth. With 7:05 remaining, Giannis Antetokounmpo lobbed up a pass for Miles Plumlee, who flushed down a dunk to give the Bucks a 8-5 lead. The Pacers tied the game, but the Bucks kept regaining the lead. With 1:56 left in the first quarter, O.J. Mayo splashed a 25-foot three-pointer to give Milwaukee a 15-12 lead. But the Bucks just couldn’t quite pull away, and the Pacers and kept it knotted at 22 at the end of one.
But in the second quarter, it was Indy that pulled away. The Bucks were outscored by 10 points in the second period, falling behind 31-22 as the Pacers opened the quarter on a 9-0 run. Antetokounmpo ended the run with a driving layup, followed by a 17-footer. After hitting another two-point shot with 4:48 remaining in the half, Antetokounmpo pulled his team within four points of the lead, trailing 37-33.
But despite eight second-quarter points from Giannis, the Pacers pulled away again at the end of the half to lead 49-39 at halftime.
Indiana opened up an even larger lead in the third quarter, beginning the period on an 11-3 run. Jabari Parker brought the Bucks back into the game after knocking down three consecutive buckets. Antetokounmpo then punctuated the Milwaukee rally with a driving dunk, pulling them to within 11 with 4:15 left in the quarter.
Antetokounmpo added a pair of free throws to bring the Bucks within single digits of the lead, and a Parker dunk brought the deficit all the way down to seven—but the Pacers scored down the stretch of the third quarter to put the lead back up to 10 heading into the fourth quarter.
With 9:32 on the clock, Mayo found a wide-open Greg Monroe near the basket for a dunk to make it 78-71, dropping the Pacers lead back down to seven. Despite getting close, the Pacers held onto a multiple-score lead for almost the entirety of the fourth quarter.
“We were looking for defense,” Jason said. “As much as we wanted to try to score, we were behind so we had to figure out how to get a stop or get a rebound. Greg was going for us and at some point, I had to make a decision to figure out how to get a stop and we went to Miles and all of a sudden, it was a three-point game.”
With 16 seconds left Jerryd Bayless converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 102-99, with the Bucks only trailing by three points. Middleton put up a 25-foot three-point attempt with six seconds remaining to tie the game, but it didn’t fall for the Bucks.
“We woke up in the fourth quarter and made a game of it,” J-Kidd said. “We had an opportunity to get a tie. Khris had a good look.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks remain at home on Friday for the fourth straight game to face the Minnesota Timberwolves (19-42). On Jan. 2, the Bucks traveled to Minnesota and won 95-85. The Timberwolves are currently on a two-game losing streak.
The game tips at 7 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Wisconsin.
