The Milwaukee Bucks and Khris Middleton entered Tuesday night trailing 3-1 in the series against the Indiana Pacers. Milwaukee was looking to stay alive for another day without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard due to injury. Middleton scored 29 points for the Bucks as they won easily over the Pacers 115-92.
With the win, Milwaukee is still alive in quest for another NBA Championship. To go along with Middleton’s 29 points, he also grabbed 12 rebounds and recorded five assists. With Antetokounmpo and Lillard out, Khris Middleton had to be the number-one scoring option for the Bucks’ offense.
Bobby Portis Jr. had a great night for Milwaukee after being ejected in the first quarter in Game 4. He also recorded a double-double with 29 points and 10 rebounds, along with recording one assist. Portis Jr. has been one to step up all season long for this basketball team when called upon. He started once again on Tuesday night.
Portis Jr. spoke to Gabe Stoltz of brewhoop.com after Game 5 and spoke about how he let his team down in Game 4 by saying:
“No man, you know obviously, I’m an emotional player. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I give my all every night. I take pride in being able to play for my team. So you know, Game 4, a little scuffle, whatever it is — maybe crossed the line, you feel me? I let my team down by getting ejected and not being available for my team and I pride myself so much for being available so I owed them an apology for sure. Just to let them know that what I did wasn’t right. Obviously, during the moment, you feel like that you didn’t do anything but then as you sit in the locker room as the first quarter goes by, the second quarter goes by, and the whole game, you just sit there like, man, I could’ve helped impact the game. Just let my teammates know that my bad, I apologize for letting the team down and I’m gonna come out tonight and play as hard as I could.“
Malik Beasley scored 18 points for the Bucks, Patrick Beverley scored 13 points, and Brook Lopez also added 12 points for the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 against the Indiana Pacers.
Indiana Pacers Offense Gets Slowed Down Against the Milwaukee Bucks and Khris Middleton
This is the first time this series that the Pacers offense was slowed down in this series. Indiana all season long has relied on its offense and the defense has not stepped up when it needed to. The Bucks’ defense did a great job of limiting the Pacers’ offensive firepower.
Yes, five players did score in double figures for Indiana, but Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam did minimal damage. Siakam only scored 12 points in Game 5 for the Pacers and he has done severe damage against the Bucks in this series before that game.
Haliburton led the way for the Indiana Pacers with 16 points and six assists. For now, the Milwaukee Bucks will have another chance to win again and force a Game 7. Game 6 will be on Thursday night back in Indianapolis, Indiana with tipoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT.
The question now will be can either Damian Lillard or Giannis Antetokounmpo return for Game 6 from injury? If both can return, watch out for them.
