A closer look at the budding rivalry between the Bucks and the Pacers

The Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers faced off for the fifth and final time in the regular season on Wednesday—a quirk of the In-Season Tournament—adding more fuel to the fire between the two proud teams.

While the Bucks and Pacers fiercely competed in the first two match-ups, the intensity reached a different level in their third face-off—a 140-126 win for the Bucks wherein Giannis Antetokounmpo set various franchise records with his 64-point explosion. 

This came to be as the Pacers appeared to have kept the game ball away from Giannis, who had wanted to keep it as memorabilia for his historic night. After that game, there was a heated exchange between the two teams, with both sides accusing each other of unsportsmanlike conduct.

"What was at stake the [second] time we played them is what made it into something," Lillard said.

"And then what took place the third time obviously made it even more. It makes for a little bit extra."

Payback

Before their third meeting, the Pacers had knocked off the Bucks in the semifinals of the In-Season Tournament, giving the latter more motivation to do well. And they did as the Bucks—particularly Giannis—had their way with the Pacers’ defense all game long.

“We kind of bullied them that game,” Bobby Portis said of that December 13th game wherein he got ejected in the fourth for incurring two technical fouls, one for defending Giannis after he got taken down by Aaron Nesmith and another for jawing with Obi Toppin.

“I think they felt that presence. When a team beats you twice, you don't want to let them beat you three times because now they think they can play with you. We played with a sense of urgency. We were more physical, we were hitting them. I don't think they liked that,” Portis added.