Who said Game Sixes were supposed to be low scoring?! Both the Indiana Pacers (thanks to 73% shooting inside the arc) and the New York Knicks (thanks to 45% shooting outside the arc) put on fireworks shows in Thursday night victories.
Both teams won their respective first round series 4-2. They will face each other in the second round beginning Monday night. The winner of THAT series is very likely to play the Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference championship.
Let’s see how it happened. Indiana coasted. New York had a long battle after blowing an early 22-point lead.
Indiana (-6) 120, Milwaukee 98
2-point Pct: Milwaukee 50%, Indiana 73%
3-pointers: Milwaukee 7/27 (26%), Indiana 13/40 (33%)
Free Throws: Milwaukee 21/32, Indiana 15/17
Rebounds: Milwaukee 40, Indiana 44
Turnovers: Milwaukee 12, Indiana 10
Estimated Pace: 95 possessions
What jumps out there is the poor 2-point defense by Milwaukee. NBA scorers are fantastic, but no teams are good enough to shoot 73% on two-pointers against pro defenses unless the opponents have thrown in the towel. We saw that the prior night when Boston shot 70% vs. Miami, and Dallas 69% against the Clippers. Way out of character for “playoff-style” basketball. Bucks didn’t put up much of a fight. Indiana yelled “Yay, points!”
Impressive series win for Indiana. But, it came against a shorthanded opponent that didn’t have a supporting cast capable of winning the series on its own. Many pundits have (properly) pointed out that Milwaukee never really looked like championship material when healthy during the regular season. Potential was always there. Never clicked.
Indiana still has the worst defense in the NBA brackets, ranking #24 in the regular season on points allowed per possession. They will be now matched against the slowest team in the NBA, which could take the Pacers’ offense out of its comfort zone. A much different challenge ahead, with potential vulnerabilities against a much different opponent.