Bucks-Pacers: 5 takeaways from 'insane' Sport 3 extra time thriller – NBA.com

Khris Middleton goes from questionable to spectacular in Sport 3, however Tyrese Halibuton delivers the extra time winner.
Steve Aschburner
Tyrese Haliburton solutions Khris Middleton's banked-in 3-pointer because the Pacers and Bucks commerce clutch baskets in extra time.
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INDIANAPOLIS – The NBA already has its advertising and marketing marketing campaign – “Playoff Mode: It’s a Thing” – for this postseason. But when the league wants a backup plan or desires to get a leap on 2025, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle has an thought able to go.
“The playoffs are insane,” Carlisle mentioned after his staff outlasted Milwaukee in extra time Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, 121-118. “Guys are going to drag other-worldly efforts out of their hearts and their guts.”
The Pacers coach added: “The main points. The playoffs are a lot in regards to the particulars. We’ve to … perceive these video games are received and misplaced within the margins.”
That was very true Friday, with the Pacers and Bucks cramming all 16 lead adjustments or ties into the ultimate quarter plus extra time. Listed here are 5 takeaways from the fiercely fought Sport 3, with Indiana now up 2-1:
1. No worries about Haliburton
Statistically, Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton took a step again over the season’s remaining three months. The unplanned splits he did towards Boston on Jan. 8 put him in rehab for weeks and Haliburton returned with out a number of the explosiveness that earned him a beginning function within the All-Star Sport.
There was nothing improper with Haliburton on this one, except for a tough 8-for-22 capturing night time. He performed almost 46 minutes, posted the second triple-double of his profession and hit the profitable bucket within the third postseason recreation he ever performed. 
With 6.7 seconds left in OT, a digital camera captured the Pacers guard imploring his teammate to “win the sport proper now.” And that’s what occurred: Haliburton took the inbounds go deep within the backcourt so he had a correct runway towards the basket. He faked the Bucks’ Patrick Beverley to the skin, reduce inside and pulled up just past the foul line to drift his shot over Milwaukee’s leaping rookie, Andre Jackson Jr.
“I reside for these moments,” Haliburton mentioned. “That’s why I’m right here.”
The child from Oshkosh, Wis., beat his house state’s NBA franchise whereas placing up 18 factors, 10 rebounds and 16 assists.
2. One countless possession
NBA extra time intervals run 5 minutes. Which suggests greater than a 3rd of the OT performed Friday – 102 seconds of 300, to be actual – was spent at one finish, one journey downcourt that noticed Indiana hoist six pictures and seize 5 offensive rebounds.
“I’ve by no means seen that many offensive rebounds in a row,” Pacers heart Myles Turner mentioned. “I believe that was really insane.”
Carlisle mentioned that an offense getting likelihood after likelihood, but arising empty, can “de-energize” a staff. However think about how the Bucks felt, digging down defensively solely to have Andrew Nembhard or Aaron Nesmith seize one other missed shot to increase the ordeal.
Indiana had 19 offensive rebounds within the recreation, turning them into 32 second-chance factors. That helped make up for the early 19-point lead the Pacers squandered.
“They had been coming from in every single place,” Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton mentioned. “Level guards had been crashing, wings had been crashing, bigs had been crashing [the glass].”
Khris Middleton finishes with a playoff-career excessive 42 factors after lacking observe Thursday due to a sprained proper ankle.
3. Middleton: From questionable to spectacular
The Bucks’ veteran small ahead turned his ankle early in Sport 2 Tuesday and wasn’t taken off the damage report till after his pregame warmup check Friday. Then Middleton scored a private playoff better of 42 factors on 16-for-29 capturing.
He scored Milwaukee’s remaining 14 factors, despatched the sport into extra time with a 3-pointer from the fitting wing that made it 111-111, and virtually pressured one other 5 minutes by getting off one other 3 previous a lunging Turner with 6.7 seconds left in OT.
“I don’t know how you can describe what he did on the market,” Carlisle mentioned, “the pictures he was making with guys draped throughout him.”
With Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf pressure) nonetheless out and Damian Lillard hurting his knee and aggravating his Achilles tendon as the sport performed out, Middleton had restricted assist. Lillard shot 6-for-20, with 12 free throws, for his 28 factors. The Bucks bench obtained outscored 28-6.
4. The Pacers wished to foul – actually, they did
Up three within the closing seconds of a recreation, many coaches will purposely foul the opponents, buying and selling two free throws to keep away from a dramatic game-tying 3-pointer. That’s what Indiana wished to do with Middleton or Lillard, whichever one obtained the ball late within the fourth quarter and once more in extra time.
Hassle was, the Pacers didn’t execute the technique. It died on the drafting board.
“We did have a state of affairs to foul,” Carlisle mentioned. “And we simply didn’t do it. [Middleton] was up to now out on the primary one, we laid off and didn’t lunge at him. The second was an identical scenario.  
“I do know that query will come up. It’s on me. I take duty for that.”
5. Limping by a troublesome sequence
Lillard mentioned he wrenched his knee within the first quarter when Indiana’s Pascal Siakam stepped on his foot. The Bucks guard fell to the ground and had bother strolling off.
Within the fourth quarter, Lillard aggravated his aching Achilles injury that hampered him late this season. Stated Bucks coach Doc Rivers: “Within the extra time, he actually mentioned, ‘I’ll be the decoy. I simply can’t go so far as explosion.’”
Middleton was iffy till shortly earlier than tipoff. After which there’s Antetokounmpo, whose calf pressure has sidelined for the previous six video games. The 2-time MVP could be racing to beat the clock, his restoration lasting longer than the Wolves’ postseason.
“They’ve obtained Giannis sitting over there. Sooner or later, it’s very possible we are going to see him. It could possibly be on Sunday,” Carlisle mentioned. “You convey him into the sport, a Prime 5 participant on this planet, abruptly in the midst of a playoff sequence.”
Or Antetokounmpo is able to go in one other week or so, by which era Milwaukee has run out of video games.
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Steve Aschburner has written in regards to the NBA since 1980. You may e-mail him here, discover his archive here and follow him on X.
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