Bucks bounce back from losses to punish Pacers

LOS ANGELES, USA – Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 29 points and made 12 rebounds as the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks regained their swagger by cruising to a 117-98 victory over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA on Thursday, March 7 (Friday, March 8, Manila time).

“We just tried to play hard and get back on track,” Antetokounmpo said. “We got back to our old habits and started defending and helping one another on defense.”

The Bucks season had hit a snag as they were coming off losing back-to-back games for the first time this season when they failed to hold big leads against the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz.

The mini slump didn’t last long, though, as they bounced back nicely against the Pacers and Khris Middleton added 27 points for the Bucks, who improved to a NBA-best 49-16 on the season.

“The last two games we had trouble holding onto a lead,” said Middleton. “It was great to get this win and get back to what we do.”

@Giannis_An34 leads the @Bucks home win with 29 PTS, 12 REB, 5 AST! #FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/gpWeiRCvU4

— NBA (@NBA) March 8, 2019

Myles Turner had 22 points and Bojan Bogdanovic 17 for the Pacers, who lost star guard Victor Oladipo to a season-ending injury last month.

The loss also ended Bogdanovic’s streak of 5 straight 20 point games.

The Bucks have now beaten the Pacers in 4 out of 5 contests this season.

The Bucks opened their largest lead of the first half at 47-33 on two free throws by Antetokounmpo, but the Pacers went on a 17-7 run to close within 54-50 at the break.

“Too much Antetokounmpo, too much Middleton,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. “When they have the attack at the basket and are knocking down threes, they’re going to be tough to guard. 

“They were pretty much knocking shots down from the perimeter and getting shots at the rim tonight. We missed some shots. We had some open looks that you need to knock down and we didn’t early.”

Milwaukee went on a 12-0 run early in the 4th quarter to take command of the game. Pacers Kyle O’Quinn scored a basket to cut the Bucks’ lead to 84-74 to start the final quarter.

Milwaukee’s Ersan Ilyasova sparked the run with a three-pointer and Antetokounmpo capped it with a driving layup to make it 96-74 with 8:21 remaining.  – Rappler.com