Can’t talk playoffs yet
Postseason spot still not secure
INDIANAPOLIS – A chance to clinch a playoff spot was wasted Thursday night by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Now there are just three games remaining to get it done, with the Eastern Conference race getting even tighter.
A reinvigorated Indiana Pacers team, energized by the signing of Lance Stephenson in the past week, defeated the Bucks, 104-89, before an enthusiastic crowd of 17,010 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Paul George led Indiana (3940) with 23 points, 10 rebounds and four steals as the Pacers moved within one game of Milwaukee (40-39). Chicago (3940) beat Philadelphia and also pulled within one game of the Bucks, who dropped to sixth in the East. Atlanta (40-38) moved back into fifth with a victory at home over Boston. Milwaukee still has a magic number of two over the Bulls and Pacers to clinch a playoff spot and owns the tiebreaker against both teams.
Giannis Antetokounmpo contributed 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 35 minutes for Milwaukee, and Mirza Teletovic added 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range. But Milwaukee committed 21 turnovers leading to 29 points by the Pacers, the same formula the Bucks had used in winning the first three games of the series with Indiana.
“We had way too many turnovers,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “We talked about it before the game; we’ve got to take care of the ball. Get shots, make or miss. That puts you in a bad situation defensively because they’re going to take ad-
vantage of it, and they did.”
Milwaukee lost its third straight game. It will conclude a threegame trip at Philadelphia on Saturday night before ending the season against Charlotte at home on Monday and at Boston on Wednesday.
“We’ve just got to get back to defending,” said Bucks center Greg Monroe, who had just four points and two rebounds in 18 minutes. “We have to get our urgency back up. We did so much to get to this position, and we’re letting it slip away a little bit. These last three games we’ve got to get back to that urgency.
“Guys want to win, but we’re playing a little tight. We’ve just got to get back to trusting ourselves and playing with that confidence, playing a little loose.”
The Bucks are missing Malcolm Brogdon, who was out for a fourth straight game with a back injury. And Monroe and Khris Middleton have not played at their usual levels recently. Middleton had just 10 points and fouled out midway through the fourth quarter after being called for a pair of charging fouls within a 31-second span.
“It happens,” Kidd said. “We believe Khris and Moose (Monroe) are going to bounce back. They didn’t have their Agame, but they can still affect the game in a positive way. Hopefully, going to Philly we can do that.”
Milwaukee was in such
a good position just a few games ago, but the threegame skid has put it in danger of falling to the eighth spot or out of the playoffs.
“We’ve got to cross the finish line of Stage 1, and
that’s getting the notch by your name to make the playoffs,” Kidd said. “We had an opportunity to do that tonight and we didn’t. But the way that we’re playing is not the way we were in March. We’ve got
to get back to playing the way we did in March.”
The Bucks trailed, 5650, at halftime with Antetokounmpo keeping them close with 16 points.
Indiana took a 15-point lead in the third quarter before Tony Snell sank a corner three and Middleton converted a threepoint play.
But the Pacers answered with a 7-0 run, including a three-point play by Kevin Seraphin and jumpers by George and Teague to extend their lead to 83-67 with 2:39 left in the third quarter.
Stephenson sank a three to help the Pacers pull away in the fourth quarter. He finished with nine points and five assists. A three-pointer by Teletovic brought the Bucks within 92-80 before the Pacers reeled off 10 straight points to put the game away.