The Milwaukee Bucks lost six of their last eight games to limp into the playoffs as the third seed in the Eastern Conference.
With the availability of Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo in question, the Bucks bid to get back on track Sunday when they open their first-round series at home against the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers.
Indiana (47-35) won four of the five meetings against Milwaukee (49-33) this season, including in a tournament setting during the in-season tournament in December.
Lillard has been nursing hip and adductor soreness since April 9, although he also played the following day against Orlando and again versus the Magic last Sunday. He participated in practice on Friday while Antetokounmpo remained out of live drills due to a left calf injury that has sidelined him for the last three games.
“He looked good,” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said of Lillard.
Lillard admitted he didn’t push himself while competing in the Bucks’ regular-season finale.
“After that it was just like we got a week to get right, to get ready and that was kind of the focus,” Lillard said on Friday. “I didn’t want to go out there with my pride or doing anything unnecessary. That was kind of the plan.”
As for Antetokounmpo, well, it’s a wait-and-see approach.
“I don’t know, yet. No,” Rivers said of the two-time NBA MVP’s availability for Sunday. “We’re still hoping. He hadn’t done anything. So, would we throw him out there? Yeah. We would. But, for us, it’s still we’re not sure.”
Antetokounmpo averaged a robust 42.2 points and 13.0 rebounds in Milwaukee’s season series against Indiana. He erupted for a franchise single-game-record 64 points in the Bucks’ lone victory over the Pacers, a 140-126 decision on Dec. 13.
While Indiana got the better of the season series, Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said his team doesn’t plan to look in its rearview mirror.
“Honestly, those five games don’t matter,” he said. “The 82 games that we’ve played don’t really matter at this point. It’s a really a fresh start and we’ve just got to approach it in that way.”
It’s important to note that the Pacers and Bucks concluded their season series on Jan. 3. Indiana, however, acquired power forward Pascal Siakam 20 days later and Milwaukee fired first-year head coach Adrian Griffin and replaced him with Rivers.
“A lot has changed,” Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’re looking at all that stuff because you look at everything.”
The Pacers led the NBA in both average points (123.3) and assists (30.8) per game during the regular season.
Haliburton (20.1 points, 10.9 assists in 69 games) led the show throughout the season while Siakam recorded 21.3 points and 7.8 rebounds in 41 games with the club.
Haliburton averaged 27.0 points and 11.0 assists in five meetings versus Milwaukee this season.
Indiana last won a playoff game in 2018 and was swept in both the 2019 and 2020 postseasons. The Pacers last won a playoff series in 2014.
–Field Level Media
