It’s not a series until a road team wins a game and that’s exactly what happened in Game 2 as the Pacers pulled off the upset 125-108. With home court advantage out of their hands now, all the pressure is on Milwaukee going into the next two games and I’m curious to see how they respond. The status of Giannis Antetokounmpo is still up in the air, Khris Middleton also joins him on the injury report with a ankle problem. The main priority in Game 3 for the Bucks will be to slow down Pascal Siakam who has absolutely destroyed them in the first 2 games. The problem is they don’t have anyone adequate on their roster to play him one-on-one if Giannis isn’t available, so it’ll have to be a team effort to slow him down tonight.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle shortened the rotation from 11 to 8 players in Game 2, switched Siakam into the post and attacked Brook Lopez from the perimeter. All that resulted in a masterpiece of a win, but now the Pacers have to double down in their first postseason home game this year. Tyrese Haliburton added more fuel to the fire in the post-game presser by saying the Milwaukee crowd felt like a regular season game, these two teams already have a history between them after what happened in the regular season. Siakam’s two performances in Milwaukee were outstanding, he became the first player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1967 to open the postseason with back-to-back 35-point and 10-rebound performances.
