Jim Owczarski on the Bucks loss to Indiana in the In-Season Tournament
Jim Owczarski gives his impressions of the Milwaukee Bucks in Las Vegas during the In-Season Tournament loss to Indiana
Giannis Antetokounmpo broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time franchise scoring record with a three-pointer. It seemed fitting he broke Michael Redd’s single-game scoring record with two textbook free throws.
The 29-year-old Bucks superstar called his shot on Monday night after the game against Chicago, saying he might have to “make something happen” against Indiana on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.
Did he ever.
The 7-footer broke Redd’s 17-year-old record for points in a game with 64 in a 140-126 victory against Indiana, making 20 of his 28 shots and 24 of his 32 free throws. He tied the record on a layup but missed the free throw. He then was sent to the line by Indiana rookie Jarace Walker with 3 minutes 25 seconds on the clock and drained both to set the mark.
Box score: Bucks 140, Pacers 126
More: The top single-game scoring performances in Bucks history, including 64 from Giannis on Wednesday
Redd scored 57 points on Nov. 11, 2006 against Utah. In that game Redd was 6-for-12 from behind the three-point line. Antetokounmpo was 0-for-3 from deep against Indiana.
Redd knew this day was coming, too.
He joked with Antetokounmpo in the tunnel after a game in 2021 that one day he would own that mark.
“Oh yeah, he’ll get it,” Redd said later. “He’ll get that. I meant that that night. We were joking about it, I said I had a lucky night and he’s like, I want to get lucky, too.”
Antetokounmpo also passed 17,000 career points on the night, becoming just the 100th NBA player to do so. He was assisted on that basket by Khris Middleton – who last month passed Redd as the No. 5 scorer in Bucks history.
“It feels great,” Redd said of the pair passing his marks. “I’ve known them since they were young guys and try to be there for them any way I could. For them to throw those numbers out and things out it feels good. They’ll pass all my records. And I want them to. I want them to. Every generation should want the next generation to exceed them and that’s what I want.”
While not many teams have had solutions for Antetokounmpo on the defensive end since he’s emerged as one of the best players in the NBA, the Pacers in particular have had a rough go of it the last four seasons.
In his last 10 games against Indiana (dating to Feb. 3, 2021) Antetokounmpo has averaged 36.2 points on 69.1% shooting. And he already had recorded two of regular season 50-point games with 50 in Milwaukee on Feb. 15, 2022, and a 54 in Indiana on Nov. 9.
Antetokounmpo’s dominance of his division rival continued Wednesday night.
“He’s a diffident kind of force of nature in this game,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said before the game. “There’s never been a player like him. We’re talking about Dame (Lillard and his three-point shooting), he’s in one extreme and Giannis is like … I don’t even know. Like, 10 years ago if somebody had tried to describe to me a 7-foot guy that does what he does I would’ve just looked at ‘em like they were crazy. How’s that every going to happen? But it’s happened.”
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Carlisle pulled all of his starters with just under six minutes left to go in regulation and Antetokounmpo with 51 points, but Adrian Griffin kept his in so Antetokounmpo could go for the record.
He did take one very hard fall just before setting the mark, taking moment to flex his hips. He also appeared to favor his side as he took his ensuing free throws.
Griffin then pulled his starters, but the Pacers backups quickly made it a 10-point game and all the Bucks’ starters had to return for the final two minutes. In that span, Antetokounmpo only added to his historic total to secure the victory and he punctuated it with a breakaway dunk, chest pound and mean mug.
Bucks finally keep Pacers boxed out
The Bucks have had issues all season on their transition defense, with an early problem arising from the team’s initial emphasis on offensive rebounding. But, time has borne out that they aren’t very good at that – the team entered the league No. 26 in that category – so the focus turned to getting back to set their defense as the shot goes up.
Indiana stresses that more than most teams, and even caught the Bucks moving too slowly off made baskets in their win in Las Vegas.
The Pacers also took advantage of the Bucks on the offensive glass in Las Vegas, particularly late in that game. Indiana had 15 offensive rebounds and 23 second-chance points in that victory (vs. nine for 14 back on Nov. 9).
Unfortunately for Milwaukee, talking about that problem didn’t immediately translate to fixing it on the court in the first half as the Pacers scored 14 of their 63 first half points off 12 offensive rebounds. The extra efforts helped them stay in the game, as they shot just 21% from behind three-point line and 42% overall.
But, if there was a positive sign it was that Indiana didn’t collect another offensive board in the final 7 minutes, 28 seconds of the first half – and perhaps not coincidentally the Bucks stretched a three-point lead to as many as 12.
In fact, Indiana didn’t get another second-chance point until late in the third quarter – a period of time that saw the lead swell to as many as 16.
It was a key point in the game that allowed the Bucks to finally secure their first win over Indiana this season.
4 numbers
6 Blocked shots for Bucks center Brook Lopez, giving him a league-high five games with five blocks or more. He came into the game leading the league in blocks per game and total blocks.
11 Straight wins at home for the Bucks. They are 12-1 at Fiserv Forum this season.
258.5 The pregame over/under on the game, surpassing In-Season Tournament game total by a full point – which ESPN had reported was the highest total since 1991. Indiana came into the game with a league-high 10 games scoring at least 130 points and the Bucks were No. 2 with eight.
100 Players in NBA history to score at least 17,000 points, a group Giannis Antetokounmpo joined with his 47th point against the Pacers – a strong layup with 6:26 left in the game. Only nine other active players have reached that milestone, including teammate Damian Lillard. It was also fitting that Khris Middleton, Antetokounmpo’s longtime running mate, assisted on it.
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