The Milwaukee Bucks bench, led by Kevin Porter Jr., headed to the 2025 NBA playoffs with a great amount of excitement after what they showed in the last three games but on D-Day, they faltered and the Bucks lost to the Indiana Pacers.
The bench still played better than the starters, just like previous times. All four starting members except Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded doubled digit negative plus/minus.
Only Bobby Portis and Jericho Sims had positive plus/minus among the bench guys. The former finished with just four points, ending his streak of double digit scoring since his return from suspension.
The three bench guards continued to be reliable soldiers for the Greek Freak. Gary Trent Jr. had 14 points on 6/11 shooting while AJ Green had 15 points all from the three point line out of 11 shots.
KPJ still scored in double digits with 12 points but that was from two out of seven shooting. He was eight out of eight from the free throw line.
He also had five rebounds and five assists.
Kevin Porter Jr. is not dwelling much on Game 1 loss
It was KPJ’s first ever playoff game since joining the league in 2019 as a 30th overall pick, also by the Bucks before getting immediately traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He believes it will take some getting used to on his part.
“It’s Game 1,” Porter said.
“It’s my first game. It’s playoffs. The atmosphere and everything that comes with it, it’s probably just having to get into it. But Game 1’s done, we got our feet under (us), we see what type of series it’s gonna be.”
As to what they need to improve as a team, he pointed to execution and communication.
“We had miscues but that’s just gonna happen,” he said.
“Kudos to them, they were making tough shots. They was getting into the paint and had to settle for some step-back twos and some long twos from Myles Turner. He hit a step-back three.
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