After what went down between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers the last time they battled it out on the court, you can’t really say that there’s no rivalry brewing between these two Central Division squads.
Monday’s bout was not as controversial as their previous meeting (Giannis Antetokounmpo did not charge the Pacers locker room to retrieve the game ball), but there was no shortage of action nonetheless.
Tyrese Haliburton Gets Real on Rivalry With Milwaukee Bucks
It was the Pacers who emerged with a victory on Monday night, 122-113, and this was thanks in large part to another tremendous performance by Indiana superstar point guard Tyrese Haliburton. The 23-year-old stepped it up in crunch time, finishing with a team-high 26 points on 11-of-22 shooting, to go along with nine rebounds, and 11 assists.
Speaking to the press after another strong outing against the Bucks, Haliburton was asked to share his thoughts on this budding rivalry. The 6-foot-5 guard got brutally honest with his response:
“That’s a team that’s competed for a championship for multiple years,” Haliburton said, via Sam Amico of Hoops Wire. “We’re on the up-and-up, but we haven’t been there yet. A lot of respect for them as a group. I don’t think I can really call it a rivalry yet. But we’re going to compete no matter who it’s against, and we play these guys a lot during the year. We’re ready when we see them.”
This statement alone goes to show how much humility this young man has in him. Regardless of the fact that he just torched the Bucks (again), Haliburton is still the first to state that the Pacers still have a long way to go before being on the same level as Milwaukee.
There’s no denying that they’re on their way up, though.
The Pacers Battled Through
The Pacers did not have the best outing against the Bucks on Monday night. However, they were still able to dig deep to muster a win even though their starting lineup combined for just 26 points outside of Haliburton’s 26.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who can contribute,” Haliburton said. “That’s the best part about our team. Some nights, the starting lineup’s got it going. Nights like tonight, where we come out slow, our bench has to come in and kind of wake the game up.”
Haliburton heaped praise on his team’s ability to battle through adversity. This has been a bit of a trademark from the Bucks this season, but on Monday night, it was Indiana who weathered the storm.
“Just digging in. That’s part of the maturation of this group,” Haliburton said (h/t Tony East of SI). “When we’re not making shots, can we win games, can we get enough stops? Defense… that helped us.”
Indeed it did. And the Pacers will need to do it all over again on Wednesday night if they want to hand the Bucks another loss in their upcoming rematch.
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