Giannis Antetokounmpo exploded for a game-high 54 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Damian Lillard-less Milwaukee Bucks fell to the Indiana Pacers 126-124 on Friday (all time AEDT).
Of his 54 points, Antetokounmpo shot an efficient 16 of 18 from the free throw line and racked up 12 rebounds, all of which were season highs, a day after he was controversially ejected from his team’s win over Detroit.
But it was Tyrese Haliburton who was the real hero Friday with 29 points, five three-pointers and 10 assists, including a game-winning triple.
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And according to EPSN Stats and Info, Antetokounmpo became the first player in NBA history to lose a game with 50 points, 75% field percentage and 10 rebounds in a contest.
Indiana took over with a 27-9 lead in the first quarter as the fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse made their voices heard.
But Milwaukee gradually clawed back the scoreboard throughout the second term, including Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton leading the visitors on the offensive end to give the Pacers a 66-60 lead at the main break.
The Bucks took a 74-73 lead in the third quarter after Antetokounmpo scored 12 points in the first three and a half minutes of the period.
It became a tug of war from there as both sides traded blows before the Bucks began to gain the upper hand early in the second term.
Malik Beasley made two threes in a minute to extend his lead to 104-96 with 10:05 left in the final stanza and the Bucks took a double-digit lead in the ensuing minutes.
Antetokounmpo looked to close the door on the Pacers with back-to-back buckets to give Milwaukee a 117-108 lead with 5:18 on the clock.
But Indiana quickly erased that deficit with a 7-0 run capped by Myles Turner’s layup to make it a one-possession game before Bennedict Mathurin’s layup tied the scores 119-119 with 2:30 left.
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After Cam Payne gave the Bucks the lead back, Haliburton responded with the game-winning three with 1:29 left and the Pacers made their free throws down the stretch to ice the victory, with Middleton missing a potential game-tying shot.
Mathurin (26 points, 11 rebounds, three triples) and Myles Turner (21 points, four threes) also scored for the Pacers, who had 20 assists from beyond the arc. It was Indiana’s third straight victory to improve to 6-3 on the season.
Middleton, meanwhile, scored a season-high 19 as he gets back into action following off-season knee surgery. The Bucks fell to 5-3 overall.
Lillard missed the match with calf soreness in the second game of a straight set for Adrian Griffin’s team.
ALL CURRENT RESULTS
124 dollars PACERS 126
FALCONS – MAGIC
