Pacers playoffs Game 4 - penultimate game of the season.

This really sucks. Ever since they won the championship 3 years ago they have been snakebitten.

Had Middleton not gotten hurt in 2022 they very likely may have gone back to back.

This year, a Big 3 of Giannis and Dame and Middleton would have scared the shit out of a lot of teams.  It absolutely sucks they can’t keep these guys healthy.  

The Pacers should advance but again if health matters Milwaukee wins in 4 or 5.  Just the way it goes, unfortunately.

Just what the Bucks needed.....

Portis just got ejected for having two Technical fouls on one incident.

Jax drains a 3. He replaced Portis. Time to shine, Mr Jackson.

Utterly ridiculous officiating move on the Portis ejection. So tired of refs influencing these games.

If they officiated Draymond Green the way they just did Portis, he wouldn’t make it past the first timeout in a single game.

Right?  I mean cmon now.  

Bucks are keeping this close but Bobby ejection is significant. Almost like they want Milwaukee to have no shot.  That’s the type of call that was.

Green has been suspended at least 6 times, fined?  Who knows how much

I look at the ejection like the officials were thinking the Bucks have no chance anyway so they were looking to get rid of the guy likely to start a fight out of frustration when this eventually gets out of hand.

The Knicks are going to sweep the Pacers in the next round. The Pacers just aren’t very good. The Bucks are playing Gallinari, AJ Green, and Beasley big minutes. That might be the three worst defensive players on the floor at the same time in this years playoffs.

Bucks playing tough, though.

Siakim levels Gallinari on a drive to the hoop

Haliburton is really unlikeabke and I want to like a guy from Oshkosh.

Bucks down 3, at the half. 64-67.

This might be Doc's best coaching half of the year.

@EC Pack posted:

This might be Doc's best coaching half of the year.

This feels like one of those games that the better team will pull away in the third quarter. the Bucks are playing AJ Green and Gallinari big minutes. That’s not sustainable to stay close.

Right, but that's why I said half.

Halliburton celebrates everything and complains to refs about anything.  He’s really becoming an annoying player.  I mean, he’s much like Trae Young and I’d argue Halliburton is far less accomplished and acts like a bigger idiot.

Given Indiana shooting well beyond normal from 3 and it’s a one possession game that’s an impressive effort by Milwaukee. If by some way the Bucks win this it could be the biggest playoff upset in my lifetime.  

Especially one that hasn't done much in the league yet....

Great, now Middleton is injured.

Now Middleton goes down hard. He heads to the locker room. Better suit up, MichiganPacker2!

Middleton stays in the game, for now.

Lopez, Beasley, Green, Gallinari, and Connaughton on the floor at the same time in a playoff game.

How in the world is that not a taunting technical on Turner?

Turner did far worse than Siakam and no T.  Right before that Pat C knocks ball away cleanly and refs call a foul.  Literally a 4-5 point swing.

Indiana 17-31 from 3.  Do the Bucks have one more run in them?  

All I know is if this version of Indiana plays the Knicks in round 2 it will be a NYK sweep.  Pacers prancing around like this is the NBA Finals against a team of backups.

Down 15. This is over. Get Middleton out.

The hope you have is Indiana keeps jacking up 3s and misses and Bucks heat up from 3.  Not likely but the Pacers might get lazy.  We saw it in games 1 and 3.  Milwaukee needs a bit of luck as well.

I'm not sure how the Bucks are still hanging around in this game. I've never seen so many washed up players get minutes in playoff game before (Gallinari, Crowder, Connaughton, and Beasley will all be out of the league in 2 years). Gallinari and Crowder are done after this series.

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

Down 15. This is over. Get Middleton out.

It's back to 6, but I'm worried about Middleton getting hurt worse playing 40+ minutes on two bum ankles.

Back up to 14.

If Indiana has an average night shooting from 3 it’s very possible Milwaukee wins this game.  They should have won game 3.

Pacers are just not a good team despite how they act on the court like they are the 86 Celtics.

Lopez 0 for 4 from the line tonight.

Turner won't make 8 three's the rest of the playoffs.

Other than Nesmith this Indiana team is a bunch of front running wannabees.  

And Myles Turner shooting like Steph Curry will never happen again.

Basketball gods give and they take I guess.  They aren’t happy with the Bucks right now.

@Tschmack posted:

If Indiana has an average night shooting from 3 it’s very possible Milwaukee wins this game.  They should have won game 3.

Pacers are just not a good team despite how they act on the court like they are the 86 Celtics.

Myles Turner went 7 for 9 from three. If he goes 3 for 9 from three it's a completely different game.

Shut it down....get ready for next year healthy.

Even IF this team came back to win the series....what's the point? Killing yourselves for no reason.

Game 5, Middleton, Dame and Giannis all sit.

Jackson Jr.  had a nice game.  Maybe he is a guy ready to take the next step?  2 guard needs an upgrade especially on D.  

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in game 5.  You would think Indiana closes them out easily but the Bucks have fought them hard in 3 of these 4 games.   With a few breaks and bounces it could be the Bucks up 3-1.

If Milwaukee can win game 5 it sets up some intrigue for game 6 later in the week.  Giannis was practicing and doing some running on Sunday so I think he’s getting close.

@Tschmack posted:

Jackson Jr.  had a nice game.  Maybe he is a guy ready to take the next step?  2 guard needs an upgrade especially on D.  

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in game 5.  You would think Indiana closes them out easily but the Bucks have fought them hard in 3 of these 4 games.   With a few breaks and bounces it could be the Bucks up 3-1.

If Milwaukee can win game 5 it sets up some intrigue for game 6 later in the week.  Giannis was practicing and doing some running on Sunday so I think he’s getting close.

I think they'll be a report after the season is done that Giannis never really was close to returning during this series. This type of thing is normally where you bring someone back slowly with a minute's restriction to make sure they don't tweak it.

I don't think you mess with this Giannis' calf injury at all. Now that Dame is pretty banged up, whatever puncher's chance they had of winning a title this year is done. The last thing you want is Giannis to pop his Achilles like Durant did trying to return from the same type of injury in 2019. Durant missed an entire year and played 32 games the following regular season after it happened. Durant returned to an all-star level after the injury, but he's also one the greatest shooters of all time so he doesn't need incredible explosiveness to be effective. Obviously, Giannis doesn't exactly have the same type of game. Giannis getting paid 220 million over the next 4 years to be a jump shooter is not something you risk bringing into the equation.

What really sucks is that really had no chance to evaluate what this team would have looked like at full strength when it mattered. It's especially frustrating because we got shades of 2021 playoff Middleton in this series. You put that with a healthy Giannis and Dame and even the Celtics were going to be pushed to win a series.

They clearly have to try to retool around those 3 if they bring them back. The most obvious thing to do is to move Brook Lopez. He'll have one year and 25 million left on his contract. The way the salary cap rules work, if they bring him back next year and he retires after that, they would only be able to sign a minimum salary guy to replace him. You have to avoid getting yourself into a position where you lose him with no way to even replace a small portion of his value. If that means trading him for a distressed asset (like Wiggins' Golden State contract), so be it.