NBA News Wire
Pacers 110, Bucks 100
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
MILWAUKEE — Forward Paul George scored 32 and forward David West finished with 30 as the Indiana Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 110-100 on Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
The Pacers avoided losing three consecutive road games for the first time this season and consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 16-18. The never trailed in this game, shooting 45 percent from the field and making 9 of 18 3-pointers.
Milwaukee (10-45), a full 32 games behind the first-place Pacers (42-13) in the Central Division — the largest disparity between top and bottom teams in the NBA this season — did not go down quietly.
Down as many as 22 in the first half, the Bucks opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run, capped off by forward Khris Middleton’s 3-pointer that made it 53-50 with 9:34 left in the quarter.
The Pacers recovered and took a 75-68 lead into the final quarter but again, the Bucks answered when guard O.J. Mayo hit back-to-back 3-pointers around an air ball from Pacers guard Rasual Butler to make it an 92-76 game with 9:40 remaining.
But Indiana guard Lance Stephenson scored 15 of his 24 in the final quarter, including 3-pointer with 4:40 to play that made it a 14-point game as the Pacers coasted to their second victory in the last three games.
George and West combined for 20 points during the third for Indiana while Middleton scored all 10 of his 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the quarter with two 3-pointers.
Point guard Brandon Knight led Milwaukee with 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting.
Forward Ersan Ilyasova added 12 and forward John Henson finished with 10.
Forward Jeff Adrien, acquired by the Bucks earlier in the week, finished with a game-high 11 rebounds in 18 minutes.
NOTES: F Evan Turner and C Lavoy Allen were not with the Pacers. The two were obtained Thursday from Philadelphia and were undergoing physicals in Indianapolis. Coach Frank Vogel said he plans to have a practice Sunday to get his team on the same page. … PG Ramon Sessions and F Jeff Adrien made their first appearances for the Bucks after being acquired Thursday from Charlotte. This is Sessions’ second stint in Milwaukee, which took him in the second round (No. 56 overall) of the 2007 draft. Sessions averaged 11.6 points, 6.0 assists and 3.2 rebounds in 96 games for the Bucks. … Milwaukee honored former F Glenn Robinson at halftime. Robinson was the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft and averaged 21.1 points and 6.2 rebounds in 688 games for the Bucks from 1994-2002.
