On April 22, Beijing time, in the NBA playoffs, the Bucks, who are third in the East, played at home against the Pacers, who are sixth in the East. Brother Alphabet has a strain on the soleus muscle in his left calf, and he will definitely not play in this game, and there is a high probability that he will be absent in the next game. The average ticket price for a series between the Bucks and Pacers is just $49, the lowest in this year's playoffs. Small ball market, really helpless!
Bucks starters: Lillard, Beverley, Middleton, Portis, Da Luo. Pacers starters: Haliburton, Nembhard, Nesmith, Siakam, Turner. Six of ESPN's 11 experts who participated in the predictions predicted the Pacers to eliminate the Bucks. Green Army legend Pierce said: Pacers 4-1 Bucks.
He shot 6-of-11 in the first quarter, 3-of-5 from three-point range, and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line, finishing with 19 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in a single quarter. The Bucks scored 29 points in the first quarter, 25 of which were related to Lillard (points + assists). The Pacers played like crazy, making 0 of 9 three-pointers in the first quarter, and the Bucks made 5 of 13 three-pointers!
At the end of the first quarter, the Bucks led by nine points at 30-21. The Pacers are an offensive team, and if they don't open up three points, this game will be out of play! At the beginning of the second quarter, Lillard rested off the court, Portis scored three goals in a row, and the Bucks came off the bench on a 12-2 run, and the difference came directly to 19 points. Lillard had a five-minute break before returning to the court, refueling his strength.
The Pacers finally decided to pinch Lillard, but the margin has reached 20 points, do the Pacers still have a chance? Lillard continued to fire, and he hit two more three-pointers in the second quarter. On the other hand, the Pacers, the first 13 three-point shots, all missed. Crazy crazy, Lillard played 3+1 and scored 35 points on 11-of-19 shooting in the first half, which was terrible!
At halftime, the Bucks led by 27 points at 69-42, and Lillard singled out the Pacers. In the first half, the Pacers shot 3-of-18 from three-point range, shooting 16.7 percent from three-point range and 35.6 percent from the field. The Bucks are shooting 51 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three-point range. The only normal player for the Pacers was Siakam, who finished with 19 points and five rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting.
Lillard scored 35 points in the half, the second-highest score in the NBA playoffs (since the statistics of the first quarter in 1997), second only to Durant's 38 points in the half in the 2019 playoffs! Haliburton really can't play a tough game? In the first half, he made 3 of 4 from the field, scoring only 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, and was named many times on the defensive end. After All-Star, Harry was no longer magical.
At the beginning of the second half, the Pacers stuck to Lillard and didn't let him catch the ball easily. Coupled with the Pacers hitting two three-pointers in a row to cut the deficit to within 20 points, Rivers called a timeout. In the last four minutes of the third quarter, the Bucks did not score, and at the end of the third quarter, the Bucks led by only 12 points at 83-71! Siakam scored 10 points in a single quarter and Lillard scored 0 points in a single quarter.
Middleton and Crowder led the Bucks to a 14-6 run in the fourth quarter, and the margin was again 20 points, with only nine minutes left in the game. I thought the Bucks would take the game away, but Rivers never let you down, and in the final 3:22, the Pacers narrowed the gap to 14 points. Da Lo dunked Nesmith with one hand, and the dunk also killed the game.
At the end of the game, the Bucks defeated the Pacers 109-94 to give the overall score a 1-0 lead! Lillard shot 0-of-5 in the second half and didn't score a point. He shot 11-of-24 from the field and finished with 35 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Siakam finished with 36 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks on 15-of-25 shooting! Haliburton finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists on 4-of-7 shooting, and he didn't play aggressively!
Finally, looking at the game data, who do you think will have the last laugh in this series?