The Milwaukee Bucks had no answer for Pascal Siakam on Tuesday night as the All-Star forward led the Indiana Pacers to a huge 125-108 victory in Game 2 of what has become a compelling opening-round series.
Siakam went off for 37 points on 16-of-23 shooting, to go along with 11 rebounds, six assists, and zero turnovers in what was easily one of the best postseason performances in his career.
At this point, there’s no denying that the Bucks will need to come up with a more formidable game plan against Siakam for Game 3 and beyond.
Milwaukee Bucks News: Pascal Siakam Looking Forward to Challenge
Siakam has been an unstoppable force in this series. In Game 1, the 30-year-old dropped 36 points, which now has him at 73 points in two games.
Siakam is well aware of the fact that the Bucks are going to make the necessary adjustments in Game 3 to prevent another offensive explosion for him. For his part, however, the 6-foot-8 power forward remains confident in his own abilities:
“We anticipate they might make some changes, but for me, I don’t think it affects the way I play,” Siakam said, via Wheat Hotchkiss of NBA.com. “Just continue to do what I do, playing with our pace and just making the reads.”
Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton also knows that the Bucks will have no other choice but to switch it up in terms of their defensive strategy on Siakam. Echoing his teammate’s sentiments, Haliburton is also confident that the Pacers will be able to counter whatever adjustments Milwaukee makes in Game 3:
“It will be interesting to see,” Haliburton said. “Obviously he’s scoring the ball at a high level right now. They’re kind of living with him taking those long twos, but that’s what he does at such a high level. We’re curious to see what they do. We have an idea of what they might do and we’ll be prepared to adjust accordingly.”
The Bucks will without a doubt come out with a vengeance on Friday as they look to make amends for giving up their home-court advantage in Game 2. The Pacers will want to match that same energy, and their home crowd at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse will need to play their role in this showdown as well.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Siakam added. “I’m excited about it. Everyone show up. I want everyone to be as loud as they can. We’re going to try to get them to get loud…We’re going to go out there and play as hard as we can.”
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