Indiana made an appointment
While mid-season has not yet been reached, all the 2023-2024 posters between Indiana and Milwaukee have now passed. Unless… the two teams end up in the play-offs. If this very plausible scenario occurs, then the Pacers will have some psychological advantage. On Wednesday night, Tyrese Haliburton and his teammates dominated the Bucks for the fourth time in five meetings since November (and the second time in three days). At home, Indiana added the style, scoring 142 points for the 2021 champions (142-130 final score).
The difference was made in a third quarter where the Pacers attack was untenable, scoring 47 points. Haliburton put up a stellar performance with 31 points, 12 assists, 3 blocks, 2 rebounds and 1 interception. He was able to count on six teammates scoring 10 points or more, including three coming from the bench (Bennedict Mathurin, 16; Obi Toppin, 15; Buddy Hield 10). Their starting five mishandled despite the match of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who came within two assists of the triple double (26 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists), the Bucks have answers to find. “What’s embarrassing is that we are much better than what we were able to show against them,” complained leader Damian Lillard (23 points, 5 assists). And we don’t look at these results and say to ourselves that it’s just the regular season, we really wanted to win these matches. »
The Los Angeles Lakers in the red
For the first time since November 10, the Los Angeles Lakers have a negative record this season. Defeated at home by the Miami Heat (96-110), LeBron James and his teammates now have 17 wins for 18 losses (including three in a row) and find themselves almost tied with Golden State, 11th and first eliminated in the Western Conference.
More worrying, against the Heat (who have 6 victories in 8 confrontations since the two teams met in the 2020 final, in the Orlando bubble), the Lakers only led a total of 50 seconds over the entire period. evening while their opponents were deprived of their star, Jimmy Butler, for the sixth time in seven matches. The Florida effort was collective with eight players at 10 points or more, including Tyler Herro (21), Jaime Jaquez (16 points, 8 assists) and an excellent Kevin Love (10 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists). .
James had a rare off night with only 12 points (including 0 of 6 from three points). Anthony Davis (29 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 blocks, 3 steals) and Austin Reaves (24 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds) tried to shake up their team but they lost too many balls ( 5 for the first, 3 for the second). An illness which affected the entire Lakers team which lost 21 turnovers against only 8 for its opponent. LA, which will host Memphis on the night of Friday to Saturday, now has no room for maneuver.
