The Indiana Pacers hosted their first playoff game in five years on Friday night as they welcomed the Milwaukee Bucks to town. Here's what went down in Game 3 of their series.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers hosted the Milwaukee Bucks for Game 3 of their first-round series on Friday night. There was an electric atmosphere in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. For the first time since 2019, there was NBA playoff basketball in Indianapolis.. The crowd was wearing matching shirts, Fever guard Caitlin Clark was in the building to get the crowd pumped, and the early start time forced fans to file in quickly.
The stoppage wasn't helpful. Indiana kept up their pace and defensive intensity, and the Bucks continued to struggle. They started 4/16 from the field and had 12 points after 7:36 of play, and star guard Damian Lillard — who has been terrific in the series so far — had just two points at the time. The Pacers lead climbed as high as 19 at 37-18 with under one minute to go in the first frame, and they were ahead 39-22 after one period. It was a dominant start for the hosts, who were guided by 11 points from Toppin. Their offense was nearly perfect to start the game.
The hosts maintained a lead between 12 and 16 for the next few minutes, but it felt like the Bucks had momentum. Their tempo and force had improved significantly, and Indiana couldn't quite recapture their success from the first quarter. But Milwaukee answered with a quick run and cut the advantage to 11, which prompted a timeout from Carlisle. His team was still up double digits, but their grip on the game felt like it had been slipping away for almost 15 minutes of action. They needed to find some momentum or defensive consistency if they were going to maintain their lead.
To start the final quarter, the Bucks kept pushing, and they cut the lead to two with 10:19 to go in the game. Lillard hit a huge three to make the score 92-90. Indiana's margin for error was gone. They had to play better down the stretch. Both squads went back to trading baskets for the next few trips down the floor, and the score was still tied when the clock read 4:08 to go. Bobby Portis and Turner each just knocked down outside shots for their teams to even the scoreboard at 104.
Siakam missed it, and then Middleton scored on the other end. It was 109-108 with 6.9 seconds to go as Nesmith went to the charity stripe with another chance to balloon Indiana's lead. Indiana grabbed a ton of offensive rebounds on the same possession with about two minutes to go in overtime, but they missed five chances and didn't capitalize. They were down two with 90 seconds to go after the poor possession. They needed a basket in the worst way.
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