The Pacers became the first team in these playoffs to win an away game. 125-108 winners over the Bucks, Rick Carlisle's men returned to Indianapolis with home advantage, and this second round clearly had an air of déjà vu.
The Pacers simply reproduced the conditions of their regular success against the Bucks. Remember that during the season, Tyrese Haliburton and his team won four of the five oppositions against Damian Lillard's teammates. How ? By playing alert and physical basketball, in which the Bucks again got lost.
Match without responding…
“You can match it, but what you can't do is react,” Bucks coach regrets Indiana's physical play. “It’s not a boxing match. Nothing will happen on the ground. How many more times will we measure ourselves and challenge each other with our gaze? It sometimes becomes comical. I hope it doesn't go any further because both teams can keep their cool. But it's the playoffs, and it's physical. »
What Doc Rivers also regrets is that his players fall into the trap of provocation.
“You try to take them out of the game and they try to take you out of the game, but you also have to stay focused on the team. We cannot get into these individual and personal quarrels,” warns Milwaukee coach “Because with each match, it intensifies… In the first game, a guy says something and you ignore it. By the second game you start to get irritated and by the third you feel like he was talking about your mother or something else. You're starting to make it a personal matter and you shouldn't. You have to stay focused on the team. I think that’s what we need to continue to do.”
A physical match but not dirty
Yet inexperienced, the Pacers found ways to annoy the Bucks. We see it after strong passages when Tyrese Haliburton and his teammates shout and gesticulate. We also see it when Andrew Nembhard hits Patrick Beverley with his elbow on a penetration. While the Bucks barker loses his temper, the Canadian remains standing, straight as an I to provoke the rear.
Doc Rivers still recognizes that although his players were pushed around, Indiana did not go beyond the limits. “I don’t think there was anything dirty”admits the technician. “I just think they were more physical. The reason we were down was because they pushed us down. They were down in the first match. They hit us tonight. »
Next round in Indianapolis. This will already be the 8th match between the two teams this season!
