On April 22, Beijing time, the 2023-24 NBA playoffs are in full swing, and a key battle in the first round of the Eastern Conference has begun, and the Milwaukee Bucks are at home to usher in the first round of the showdown with the Indiana Pacers. The Bucks lost the final game of the regular season to the Magic and dropped to third place in the East, while the Pacers beat the Hawks to lock up sixth place in the East, and the two teams will go head-to-head in the playoffs. In this game, Brother Alphabet was out due to injury, and the burden of scoring was put in Lillard's hands.
In the first quarter, the two teams hit iron in a row, and Sika hit the first goal with a quick stop jumper! Middleton turned around and hit a backward shot, breaking the Bucks' scoring drought of nearly two and a half minutes; the battle reached 8-9, the Bucks began to set off a scoring tide, Lillard first made 3 free throws and 3 hits, and then the outside line pierced the heart, broke through the layup and scored, and one person scored 8 points in a row! Sika scored 4 points in a row to stop the Bucks; after the timeout, Lillard continued to fire on the outside, a ruthless 3-point continued, Sika shouldered the burden of the Pacers scoring, and Lillard scored points, but obviously "cousin" It is a limited edition of the playoffs, Lillard made a layup and scored 2+1, Beasley continued with 3 points, Cannaughton scored 3 points again, Lillard also had 3 points, and the Bucks ended the first quarter with a wave of attack wave 30-21; Lillard scored 19 points in 6 of 11 in the first quarter, including 3 of 5 three-pointers, completely crazy!
In the second quarter, the Bucks gave the Pacers a taste of ten thousand arrows piercing the heart, and Lillard made unreasonable 3-point shots again and again, allowing the Pacers to see the power of their "cousin" in advance. In this quarter, the Bucks hit five 3-pointers, once blasted a wave of 24-4 attacks, and the difference reached 30 points at the maximum! Lillard continued to score points in this quarter, scoring 5-of-8 from the field, 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 16 points from 3-point range, scoring 35 points at halftime, and the Bucks led by 27 points at halftime 69-42!
The Pacers blew the horn of the counterattack, Nesmith scored a 3-pointer as soon as he came up, Sika hit a layup, and the Pacers strengthened their defense of Lillard in this quarter, allowing others to score, but sandwiching Lillard. Middleton hit a backward shot to break the drought, Turner and Sika teamed up to cut another 7 points, the difference came to 19 points, the Bucks asked for a timeout, the Pacers continued to narrow the difference, the last 4 minutes The Bucks did not score a point, and watched the Pacers narrow the gap to 12 points, and the suspense returned! Lillard did not score a point in this quarter, and the other players scored a total of 14 points. Carlisle continued to field shooters, creating a lot of shooting opportunities in a single quarter. The Pacers will certainly continue to stick to this defensive strategy in the final quarter, and it will be up to Rivers to respond.
At the beginning of the last quarter, Middleton took the lead in hitting a 3-point shot, Portis broke through the layup and hit 2+1, and then Middleton teamed up with Crowder to cut another 5 points, Beasley continued with 3 points, and a wave of attack stopped the Pacers! After a timeout, Middleton leaned back and hit again, and the difference suddenly came to 22 points! This is the Bucks' response, Lillard couldn't score, but the other players stepped up and seized the opportunity of the vacancy. After that, the Pacers chased a 14-point deficit, but fell short, and the score was fixed at 109-94. The Bucks won their first playoff game and led 1-0.
Statistics:
Lillard scored 35 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, but all in the first half, and he also set the 2nd highest score record in the NBA playoffs history, second only to Durant! Middleton 23 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block, Portis 15 points, 11 rebounds and 1 assist, Da Luo 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks, Beverley 5 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals, Beasley 9 points and 4 boards, Connaughton 6 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 3 steals;
On the Pacers' side, 3, Sika 36 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block, Turner 17 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal, Haliburton 9 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, Nesmith 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block, McConaughey 10 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, Nembhard 6 points and 3 assists.