The Greek Freak did Greek Freak things at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Thursday night.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led a nearly full-tank Milwaukee Bucks squad into the 317 to battle the Indiana Pacers, and they left with the 142-133 victory. Axel Toupane was the lone Milwaukee player not available, and it caught up with the courageous but battered Pacers.
Before the game, Caris LeVert was a late scratch. LeVert’s name was added to the injury list already featuring the likes of Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner, Edmond Sumner, Jeremy Lamb, and T.J. Warren.
Aaron Holiday did not play either. So all in all, as Justin Holiday said during postgame, the Bucks play like a “machine.” If you’re that depleted while playing Milwaukee…
The guys who did take the floor though gave Giannis and the Bucks a game.
Indiana is already guaranteed a spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, and to know that the bench can contribute to outscore Milwaukee in the 4th quarter has to be comforting for Nate Bjorkgren.
Domantas Sabonis left the game as well with a quad injury. Then, T.J. McConnell needed to get an X-ray on his thumb mid-game. The Pacers squeezed every ounce of life that they could have out of the roster.
“I thought that the guys on the floor gave it everything that they had,” Bjorkgren said. “They played hard, they played together and they didn’t stop. A lot of breaks didn’t go our way but I was proud of the guys who were out there fighting.”
Okay, so two games to go in the regular season.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers come in on Saturday; Then Indiana will take a quick sunshine state trip to clash with the Toronto (Tampa Bay) Raptors to close the pre-playoff slate.
Even though they are already in for the play-in round, home court advantage is still a factor to play for. Justin Holiday would not only like to play in front of the home crowd again, but also take advantage of the short commute to Bankers Life.
“To be honest with you the big advantage is not having to travel,” Holiday said. “To be comfortable in your own house before going to the game is big. It would be nice to be in front of our fans and not have to go through everything while being on the road.”
Traveling in the NBA is also completely different due to COVID-19 with plane rides, hotels, and curfews.
If they want the play-in here at home, they’ll need to sweep their second back-to-back in one week after doing so against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers a few days back.
