-
Stephen Holder
Indianapolis – If the repeated verbal altercations and the evaluation of the double technical faults in each of the first two games between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers did not fully explain how acrimonia things have become between the teams, the Pacers Guard Tyrese Haliburton have undoubtedly left themselves.
“We don’t have to sit here and act as if it was a secret,” said Haliburton after the Pacers took a 2-0 lead in the first round series of the Eastern Conference with a 123-115 victory against the Bucks on Tuesday. “We don’t like them, they don’t like us and that’s exactly what it is. And I think they live for that, we live for that, so I could (not) worry less. I’m just here trying to help my team win a match.”
The last episode of Bucks-Pacers was just as hostile as many other recent games involving teams. And things should remain heated while the bucks go home desperate for a victory.
Match 1 of this series was marked by an altercation involving Haliburton and Bucks star, Damian Lillard – who was on the bench for this match but returned for the first time in a month on Tuesday. Match 2 produced another stay between the All-Stars / Olympiens. There was another tense moment when Gary Trent Jr. from Milwaukee and Pascal Siakam from Indiana fought on a loose ball with Siakam striking the ground strongly.
From his entries with Lillard, Haliburton said: “Just competitors. He wants to win, I want to win. It’s the highest level. We are in the highest level in the most controversial moment in the playoffs.”
This is perhaps what we should expect between teams that have seen each other in the past two seasons. Including their regular season meetings, the semi-finals of the NBA Cup of last season and their series of six games in playoffs a year ago, the Pacers and the Bucks have faced each other since the start of the 2023-24 season. Among these matches, there was a regular season match in December 2023 which was followed by an post-match confrontation tense on the attempt of Bucks star, Giannis Antetokounmpo, to recover a pacers game ball to commemorate his performance of 64 points that evening.
Antetokounmpo recognized the conflict between the teams, but suggested that his team had more important problems given its 2-0 series deficit and the fact that Milwaukee led for three minutes combined in two games.
“I have the impression that there is a lot of animosity, a lot of back and forth,” he said. “But I try to get away from it. I try to move away as much as possible and focus on what I have to do to help the team win. But, s —, if you prick me, I am there. I do not back down.
“I think a lot of people know that on me, but I really don’t care what people think or what (pacers) think or what we think. I really don’t care. My state of mind right now is game 3. We know the F — Ing Man. I just know the agreement. I know what I have to do.”
The Pacers sometimes seemed to go towards a rout on Tuesday, leading to 16 points after blowing match 1 of the 28 -point open. But Milwaukee showed his life in the last minutes, performing a 13-0 race to transform an advance of 15 points from the Indiana with 5:43 to play in two points at 2:33. Lillard, who returned after being sidelined by a blood clot since March 18, struck a 3-point pointer to make a match of 115-113.
But the Pacers, who showed put in tight matches this season, replied with a pair of 3 and finally closed it.
Lillard surprisingly played 37 minutes despite its layoff, ending with 14 points out of 4 of the 13 shots. Antetokounmpo was again dominant, marking 34 after his 36 -point effort in match 1. Bobby Portis added 28 for Milwaukee.
The Pacers produced a balanced score effort, with six two -digit players, led by Siakam with 24 points. Haliburton contributed 21 points and 12 assists.
As for what could be ahead of match 3 and beyond, Haliburton said he expected the same intensity of the two teams.
“I’m sure you will continue to see this during the series,” he said. “Everyone says that the league rivalries are no longer there. Well, it’s here. So it’s an interesting series. We have played, we have the impression, a million times in the past two years. I saw all the different covers that they could throw us away. And I have the impression that these guys probably feel the same thing.
