Damian Lillard got off to a hot start in their NBA Playoffs series against the Indiana Pacers. The Milwaukee Bucks did not even need him to produce in the second half to win Game 1. However, it was Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton’s turn to hit their opponents back. Coach Doc Rivers could not find the proper defensive coverages nor spot holes to exploit whenever they were the ones running on offense. This led to an unfortunate loss to even the series up 1-1.
Everything looked under control for the Bucks in the first half. They were just five points behind the Pacers and had a blazing-hot Damian Lillard. What could go wrong, right? Well, Doc Rivers and the rest of the squad did not anticipate that Pascal Siakam would not let his foot off the gas at all. The head honcho even had an honest evaluation of this tough loss with a 125 to 108 scoreline, via Gabe Stoltz of SB Nation.
“They said they couldn’t play defense, they did that in the second game. I thought it was more our offense versus their defense than the other way. They got out on breaks because of our offense. I thought their pressure took us out of our sets, I thought we struggled execution-wise on the offensive end and I thought that bled over into the defensive end… We have got to handle that better,” Doc Rivers said.
True enough, the Bucks got suffocated which prevented them from taking quality shots. Damian Lillard and his squad only managed to sink 44.2% of their shots from all three levels of scoring. Against a generational offense like the Pacers, this is not enough. To add more context, the Pascal Siakam-led squad went 55.6% on their field goal percentage. They even knocked down 44.4% of their threes.
Rivers outlines more of the Bucks’ struggles
Furthermore, Rivers posits that the offense, particularly their shot diet, was an extension of their defensive schemes. He even blasted the team for not having the proper discipline in knowing which shots to take and which to not, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
“The shots that we take are a part of our defense. And I thought in the second half we lacked that discipline. We lacked that discipline tonight,” he concluded.
More than being more disciplined, Rivers also credited the Pacers for being more physical. All of which evidently yielded great results in the second game of their NBA Playoffs clash.
Siakam led the way by going 16 for 23 on his field goal attempts and only missing one of his three free throws for 37 points. The Bucks also struggled to prevent him from getting close to the boards. This gave him 11 rebounds to round a big all-around performance. Tyrese Haliburton also picked apart the Bucks’ defense. His infectious passing notched the Pacers 12 assists while he also scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds.
The series now heads to the Pacers’ homecourt. Hopefully, the Bucks could steal one game too such that the series becomes more interesting.
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