Milwaukee and Indiana are drumming up a new rivalry and the Bucks now have hope
The Milwaukee Bucks finished the NBA regular season (49-33). Right on their heels were the Indiana Pacers at (47-35). These teams played five times during the regular season and a new rivalry is brewing.
It stands to reason from regular season records alone that this series should be close.
Do you remember when we had “game-ball gate” when Giannis set the franchise single-game scoring record with 64 points, and then Indiana stole the ball to mess with the Bucks? Or do you remember the time when Tyrese Haliburton hit a three and started flashing the “Dame Time” signal at the Milwaukee Bucks bench? How about that crazy-looking floor the teams played on in Las Vegas for the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament?
Can the Bucks win game six? Do we have hope?
Related: Playoff Schedule Gets Clarity
Total team effort. pic.twitter.com/2IVjPgf3kw
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) May 2, 2024
The Bucks are getting better and healthy
Both Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo are getting healthy. If they can manage to play, the mental advantage has to go back to the Bucks.
Lillard, the 33-year-old flashy point guard, has scored over 20,165 points in his NBA career.
Lillard is 49th, all-time, in NBA scoring. So, in the league’s 75-year history, he is the 49th-highest scorer. That’s impressive.
It is hard to not reflect back on this great Lillard quote from earlier this year.
“You put a lot of really good players together, it takes time to jell, get to know each other and make things work for everybody… Now you’re starting to see us win in a different type of way because we’re starting to get to know each other better.”
Quote Taken from Jamal Collier, ESPN
For the Milwaukee Bucks, this is that moment when if all can come together!
The Opponent: The Indiana Pacers
Rick Carlisle is an NBA veteran coach who radically changed the Pacer’s culture. He also seems to be in “win at all costs mode”. Hence “game-ball gate”.
The 64-year-old has been an NBA Head Coach 4 times; twice for Indiana (203-2007, and 2021- present.) That happens in the NBA, being a head coach twice for the same franchise, but it certainly is not common.
Over his career, he has coached in 1,771 NBA games and is (943-828). Carlisle has a reputation for helping to “mold players” and that could not be any more evident than with the growth of Tyrese Haliburton.
What has really propelled this franchise forward is one big trade! It now appears the Pacers have clearly won the Sabonis for Haliburton trade. Haliburton is beginning to blossom into a star. Tyrese Haliburton, acquired with Buddy Hield for Domantas Sabonis of the Sacramento Kings, has started to become an NBA superstar. He leads the team in scoring 20.1 points per game.
Haliburton also led the entire NBA in assists with 10.9 a game.
Halliburton, who was born in Oshkosh and attended Oshkosh North High School, was drafted 12th by the Kings in the 2020 draft.
He is young and can be prone to erratic play. If the Bucks can rattle him, they can win game six without Dame or Giannis again.
The Milwaukee Bucks now have hope again
As I write this the Bucks and the team’s fans are still not sure if Dame or Giannis will play. But given the major game five win, you would have to think there is a chance.
Like “Star Wars”, we now have “A New Hope”.
Milwaukee is a team of veterans; Indiana is a young team. Milwaukee is a team trying to overcome injuries; Indiana is healthy. Milwaukee has won an NBA championship in the past five years; Indiana almost won an NBA-In-Season Tournament.
One thing that is helping to create this rivalry is these dramatic differences.
Now, for everyone rooting on the Milwaukee Bucks, they have hope again.
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