INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 The usually good-natured Indiana Pacers star, Tyrese Haliburton, has shown he refuses to back down from his Milwaukee Bucks rival and fellow All-Star, Damian Lillard.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been part of the chippiness and chirping that is beginning to heat up as it usually does during the NBA playoffs.<\/a> Haliburton has a succinct explanation for what fans have seen in Pacers\u2019 series with the Bucks, saying the teams simply don\u2019t like one another.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t seem there is much love lost between Golden State and Houston, or the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. But for Milwaukee and Indiana, the animosity is about more than just one series.<\/p>\n Haliburton responded when Lillard started chattering during a timeout<\/a> in Game 1 of this first-round playoff series. He did it again when the players were jawing at one another late in Game 2. And if it happens again when the series resumes in Milwaukee, just a short drive from Haliburton\u2019s hometown of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, it will likely be more of the same.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wants to win, I want to win and we\u2019re in the highest level, the most contentious moment here in the playoffs,\u201d Haliburton said after the Pacers took a 2-0 series lead.<\/a> \u201cSo it\u2019s just competition at the end of the day. But we don\u2019t have to sit here and act like there\u2019s any secret. We don\u2019t like them, they don\u2019t like us \u2014 that\u2019s just what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to understand how the Pacers-Bucks matchup reached this intensity<\/a> \u2014 Game 3 will be their 18th matchup since the start of last season and Milwaukee desperately wants to avoid a third straight first-round exit, the second straight to Indiana.<\/p>\n A year ago, Indiana won four of the five regular-season<\/a> matchups and then ousted the Bucks 4-2 by winning three of the last four playoff games. This year, Milwaukee won three of four during the regular season but has lost the first two in the postseason, where chippiness is the norm.<\/p>\n It is happening around the league.<\/p>\n \u2014 In Boston, an inadvertent elbow from Orlando center Goga Bitadze, a former Pacer, left the Celtics\u2019 Kristaps Porzingis bloodied<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 In Houston, there has been a lot of trash-talking and stare-downs with Dillon Brooks and Draymond Green among the participants. It didn\u2019t help that Jimmy Butler<\/a> had to leave the game after a hard fall in Game 2 of that series.<\/p>\n \u2014 In Los Angeles, Anthony Edwards<\/a> and Luka Doncic have helped fan the flames.<\/p>\n That\u2019s just playoff basketball, which comes with heightened physicality.<\/p>\n But for the two All-NBA guards in the Indiana-Milwaukee series, the stakes may have first ratcheted up when Haliburton celebrated a decisive 3-pointer in the final minute of Indiana\u2019s 128-119 victory over Milwaukee in the 2023 NBA Cup semifinals \u2014 stealing Lillard\u2019s signature Dame Time move<\/a> by looking at his wrist. He\u2019s done it since then, too.<\/p>\n And then, of course, there was last season\u2019s dispute over a ball, which sent two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo racing into the Pacers locker room after he\u2019d scored a career high 64 points.<\/p>\n Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers believes the flareups that were so common during his NBA playing career, one of the most physical eras in league history, are more of a sideshow.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you give a tech to two guys who don\u2019t do anything \u2014 they were staring at each other, they weren\u2019t going to fight \u2014 there\u2019s no tech needed,\u201d he said, referring to an initial scuffle between Gary Trent Jr. and Pascal Siakam. \u201cLike, sometimes, can we just get on with the damn game? Like, it\u2019s ridiculous. That took like 25 minutes to sort out and nothing was there.\u201d<\/p>\n Siakam doesn\u2019t seem terribly fazed by any of it.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean if you need an edge in the playoffs,\u201d said Siakam, who joined the Pacers in a trade in January 2024, \u201cwe have problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Haliburton, who has been a part of all the recent Milwaukee-Indiana showdowns, says playing the Bucks is different.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody says league rivalries aren\u2019t here anymore. It\u2019s right here,\u201d the Pacers guard said. \u201cWe\u2019ve played like a million times over the last two years. I\u2019ve seen every coverage they could throw at us, and I think those guys probably feel the same way about us. But there are still a lot of games to play, so I\u2019m sure there will be more heated moments, more competitive moments.<\/p>\n \u201cThe extracurricular stuff is extracurricular, but it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n