The Milwaukee Bucks took round 2 over the Indiana Pacers, 111-94, in a (mostly) uneventful game in which they led wire-to-wire to end their eight-game road losing streak. Kevin Porter Jr. led the Bucks with 24 points, five assists, and six boards. T.J. McConnell led the Pacers with 16 points and six assists.
The first quarter was not a particularly pretty one for either side, with just 46 combined points, going 17/44 and 3/16 from deep. Myles Turner was not afraid to let it fly against his former team, but went just 1/6 in the opening stanza. It was T.J. McConnell who got the Pacers going with his mid-range magic, but Ryan Rollins matched him with a few middies of his own. The Bucks built a small lead as the quarter wound down, getting out in transition for some layups and dunks; unfortunately, one of those transition plays resulted in Gary Trent Jr. hobbling off injured. Bucks led 26-20 after one.
Milwaukee swiftly expanded their lead to open the second, going on a 7-0 run courtesy of Kyle Kuzma, Gary Harris, and Kevin Porter Jr. The newly signed Garrison Matthews was keeping the home team in it, nailing a set of triples in the early going as the Bucks nursed a double-digit edge. The visitors’ lead expanded into the mid-teens as the quarter rolled on, taking advantage of the Pacers’ sludge-like offence; Bobby Portis was one of the main guys who got going during this stretch, leading all scorers at that point with 12 points on 5/8 shooting. The offence was just flowing so easily to end the quarter; Bucks up 59-44 at half.
It was more of the same in the third; the Bucks just kept running over the Pacers and their sluggish O, expanding the lead into the 20s for most of the period. Ryan Rollins was solid in this period, showing his touch from inside and out. Additionally, Kyle Kuzma was able to use his size to back down Indy’s smaller forwards and get to the rim and free throw line, where he went 4/4 in the third. That said, the Pacers were only outscored by three in the period, so it wasn’t like the Bucks were knuckling down on defence to any significant degree. Visitors up 86-68 after three.
A bunch of poor opening possessions leading to transition opportunities for the Pacers had Doc call an early timeout. Indy had the lead down to 12 shortly thereafter as Johnny Furphy got multiple layups off Bucks turnovers. Thankfully, a few KPJ rim finishes and an AJ Green transition triple got the edge back up to 19. Some minutes passed with both teams mostly matching each other, but the Bucks lost a bit of focus at around the six-minute mark as the Pacers went on a 9-0 run to whittle the lead down to single digits. After the timeout, KPJ and Rollins both made crucial buckets to allay concerns. Bucks win.
Coming off a back-to-back, the Pacers’ offence looked sluggish all night, shooting just 40.7% from the field. The Bucks shot it at 51.2%, which was the difference in the game.