Who says you cannot make history with your two best players out with injuries? The Milwaukee Bucks did just that in Game 5 as Boddy Portis and Khris Middleton each had 29 points en route to a dominant 23-point win. Extending the series in front of the home fans was cool and all, but now the real test is on as Milwaukee looks to survive another game and push this thing to a decider on Saturday. There is still no word on either Giannis Antetokounmpo or Damian Lillard coming back, both are game time decisions with calf and Achilles injuries. For that reason we have the Bucks at a tasty +270 odds to win this game, the spread is at 8-points which is the 2nd highest it’s been in the series so far.
Indiana fumbled the ball in Game 5, especially on offense where they’ve been great all year long. The good news is there is still plenty of wiggle room left as they have 2 more opportunities to close this thing out. In Thursday’s game I expect them to clean up a lot of the errors they made in Game 5. Committing 12 turnovers was very uncharacteristic, as was the play of Tyrese Haliburton who finished with just 16 points and 6 assists. Indiana also got outrebounded 44-36, but I expect those things to improve at home. The role players around Haliburton need to do a much better job of converting shot opportunities, the longer this series goes the higher of a chance there is either one of Giannis or Dame returns. Milwaukee is winless in 5 straight on the road, they are yet to win a game in Indy this season.
