The Milwaukee Bucks move onto the semifinals of the NBA In-Season Tournament to face the Indiana Pacers after beating the New York Knicks 146-122 on Tuesday night. The semifinals will take place on Thursday night in Las Vegas and the winner of that game will face either the Los Angeles Lakers or the New Orleans Pelicans in the Championship Game.
The matchup between the Bucks and the Pacers should be nothing short of excitement. Indiana has the number one ranked offense in the NBA at scoring 128.4 PPG and Milwaukee has the number three ranked offense in the NBA at scoring 122.3 PPG. Rick Carlisle and Adrian Griffin Jr. love having their respective basketball teams play at a very fast pace.
Defensively, the Bucks have the seventh-worst defense in the NBA at giving up 118.3 PPG and the Pacers have the worst-ranked defense in the NBA at giving up 125.2 PPG. There will be a ton of offense once again in this matchup between Milwaukee and Indiana on Thursday night.
Milwaukee Bucks Key Players Against the Indiana Pacers
Obviously, it starts and ends with Giannis Antetokounmpo. He has been on a tear this season for the Bucks. In Tuesday night’s win against the New York Knicks, he scored 35 points, grabbed eight rebounds, recorded 10 assists, and recorded three steals. Damian Lillard was solid for Milwaukee also with 28 points, three rebounds, and seven assists.
Malik Beasley has played well for Milwaukee up to this point. Against the Knicks on Tuesday night, he scored 18 points and grabbed three rebounds. Beasley has played better this season than Khris Middleton has. It is very possible that against a weak Indiana Pacers defense that Antetokounmpo and Lillard could each very well score over 30 points.
Players to Watch For on the Indiana Pacers
On Monday night against the Boston Celtics, Indiana took them down 122-112. One of the biggest stories of the season for the Pacers has been point guard Tyrese Haliburton. He has been playing at an all-star caliber level and also could be in the front running for MVP as well.
Haliburton scored 26 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and recorded 13 assists. On the year, he is averaging 26.9 points per game, 4.0 rebounds per game, 11.9 assists per game, 0.6 blocks per game, and 1.1 steals per game. Tyrese Haliburton is leading the league in assists per game and that has been a huge get for the Indiana Pacers.
Buddy Hield scored 21 points on Monday for Indiana and he also grabbed two rebounds, recorded two assists, and also recorded two steals. Myles Turner also scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Pacers. This is going to be a wild basketball game on Thursday night between two elite offenses and they are both divisional rivals. The Milwaukee Bucks will need to play tight defense against the top-ranked offense if they want to advance.
