Pacers-Bucks Preview

By KATE HEDLIN
Posted Apr 14 2012 12:19AM

With time running out, the Milwaukee Bucks adopted a playoff mentality as they try to climb into the top eight in the Eastern Conference.

The Indiana Pacers also are playing with a sense of urgency, albeit while facing a lot less pressure.

The Bucks host the Pacers on Saturday night in the second meeting between the division rivals this season.

A costly loss to New York on Wednesday left Milwaukee in catch-up mode. The Bucks are two games behind the Knicks and Philadelphia, the clubs in the final two playoff spots in the East with seven games remaining.

Milwaukee (29-30) kept pace with the Knicks and gained a game on the 76ers on Friday, defeating Detroit 113-97.

The Bucks pulled away with a big third quarter, pushing the lead to 20 points. Drew Gooden scored 26 points, while Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis combined for 38 and 17 assists.

"We talked about that this morning, that no matter who it is, it's a playoff game for us," Gooden said. "We can't just worry about the New York Knicks or Philadelphia 76ers."

Gooden, who has been bothered by back spasms, had played limited minutes recently, including five Wednesday against New York. However, he logged 35 on Friday, shooting 12 of 18 and adding eight assists.

The Bucks also had a better defensive effort after giving up an average of 110.0 points in losses earlier this week to the Knicks and Oklahoma City - the first time opponents reached the century mark in back-to-back games in a month.

Milwaukee, however, faces a tougher challenge against Indiana (37-22) - the conference's third-place team.

The Pacers have won three straight and seven of eight. They completed a home-and-home sweep of Cleveland with a 102-83 victory Friday, holding the Cavaliers to 35.4 percent shooting.

Six Indiana players scored in double figures. Danny Granger had 18 points while Roy Hibbert added 12 and 10 rebounds.

The Pacers, who overcame an early 14-point deficit, officially clinched a playoff berth. They are two games ahead of Atlanta for home-court advantage in the first round.

"We haven't accomplished anything yet," coach Frank Vogel said. "Nothing has changed for us. We felt for a while we would be in the playoffs, but until we get home-court advantage, there is work to be done."

Indiana has been winning despite the absence of starting point guard Darren Collison, who sat out a third straight game Friday with a sore groin. George Hill started in his place again and had 15 points, including 10 in the second quarter, and seven assists.

With Hill running the point, Indiana has been able to continue a recent uptick in scoring. The Pacers are putting up 101.3 points per game over their last nine contests after beginning that stretch averaging 96.1 points.

The Bucks know that while Indiana may not be one of the more dangerous offensive teams, it has the ability to break out. The Pacers won 125-104 in Milwaukee on March 24, with Hill scoring 24 points off the bench.

Both teams struggled defensively in that game. Indiana shot 51.2 percent overall and scored 68 points in the second half while Milwaukee went 10 of 21 from 3-point range.

The Bucks have dropped three in a row to the Pacers. They'll meet again Thursday in Indianapolis.

Hibbert leads Pacers past Bucks, 105-99

Posted Apr 15 2012 2:45AM

MILWAUKEE (AP) The Indiana Pacers couldn't make a basket in the final 4 minutes against the Milwaukee Bucks. However, they did plenty of other things well enough to win their fourth consecutive game.

Roy Hibbert had 23 points and 14 rebounds, including six free throws in the final 74 seconds, to lead Indiana to a 105-99 victory Saturday night in a crushing blow to the Bucks' playoff hopes.

Indiana missed its last nine shots, but didn't allow Milwaukee to score for nearly 4 minutes during the final minutes.

"We made positive plays," Indiana coach Frank Vogel said. "We knocked down our free throws. We hurt them on the glass. We outrebounded them by 11. In crunch time we were able to get some stops."

Monta Ellis had 20 points and Brandon Jennings added 16 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for Milwaukee. The Bucks lost for the third time in four games to fall 2 1/2 games behind New York and Philadelphia for one of the last two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.

"If you want to be a really good team, you have to be able to take a time out, move the ball up, draw up a play that you've worked on countless times and everybody go out there and do it," Skiles said of his team's struggles at the end of games.

"If you have two or three guys that don't go out there and do it, you're not going to be a good team and we have struggled with that all year long," he said.

Milwaukee has just six games left, including one with Philadelphia.

Indiana's post play was too much for the Bucks, with Hibbert making 7 of 14 shots and nine of 10 free throws.

Vogel invoked the names of NBA legends Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Tim Duncan in describing his team's offense against Milwaukee. The Pacers took 43 shots inside the paint, making 19, and made 24 of 26 free throws.

"It's kind of like the old-school NBA with Olajuwon, Duncan and Robinson," he said. "Dump it in the post and those guys go to work."

The Bucks also took 26 free throw attempts, but missed 10.

Danny Granger scored 21 points and George Hill added 13 points for Indiana.

"We hit our free throws," Granger said. "We only missed two. That's huge for us. On the flipside they missed about 10. The free throws were the difference."

Granger and Jennings were called for a double technical with 10 seconds left and continued jawing on the way off the court.

"We were just talking a little trash to each other," Granger said. "We just had a little chit chat. We competed in a basketball game, were talking a little trash. Move on. That's it."

Milwaukee missed five straight shots before Ellis hit a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left to pull the Bucks to 103-99 with 11 seconds left.

Hibbert then made two free throws for the final margin, and Ellis missed a 3 with 5 seconds left.

With Indiana leading 99-93, Mike Dunleavy hit a 3 for the Bucks with 4:02 to go.

That's when lids seemed to go on both baskets. Neither team could score until Hibbert's two free throws with 1:14 left, giving the Pacers a 101-96 lead.

Milwaukee's Larry Sanders then missed two free throws, and Hibbert made two more for Indiana.

Ellis then hit his 3 and Hibbert made two more from the line to close the scoring.

"We went out there and played hard," Ellis said. "We fought until the end. That's all we can do. There isn't anything else you can ask of us.

"We go out there every night, we compete, we play as a team, they make shots, we don't, we lose the ballgame," he said.

Before the game, Skiles said his team would have little chance of winning unless it outrebounded the Pacers. Indiana was 29-5 when outrebounding its opponents coming in.

The bigger Pacers, though, had no trouble dominating the boards against Milwaukee, holding a 54-43 advantage in the game. Indiana had 17 second-chance points to Milwaukee's nine.

"Most of the game they were more active than us on the glass," Skiles said after the game. "We started the game kind of slow on both ends."

Indiana is third in the East and can play spoiler, still playing the Bucks another time, and Philadelphia twice in its final six games.

NOTES: Indiana starting PG Darren Collison missed his fourth consecutive game with a sore groin. He did warm up before the game. ... Granger has scored at least 18 points in 11 consecutive games. ... Indiana F David West was called for a Flagrant 1 foul after grabbing Dunleavy as he drove the lane with 7:55 left in the second quarter. ... The teams play again Thursday night at Indianapolis.

Notebook: Pacers 105, Bucks 99

Posted Sunday April 15, 2012 12:11AM

By Rick Braun, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Roy Hibbert scored 23 points, including six free throws in the last 1:14, and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 105-99 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday night at the Bradley Center.

The loss was crushing for the Bucks (29-31), who now trail Philadelphia by 2 1/2 games for the final playoff spot in the East. The Bucks have six games left, while Philadelphia has seven. The two teams will meet in Milwaukee on April 25.

Danny Granger added 21 points for Indiana (38-22), which is solidly in the playoffs with the No. 3 seed in the East.

Monta Ellis led the Bucks with 20 points, and Brandon Jennings had 16 points and 10 assists but the Bucks missed five straight shots down the stretch and never got back to even after trailing 59-48 at the half.

QUOTABLE: "It's tough. You want to protect your home court always. That's been something that's been our weakness all season is losing close games at home and not taking advantage of the home-court advantage."
-- Bucks center Drew Gooden on his team's struggles at home

THE STAT: The Bucks outscored the Pacers by two points from the field and both teams attempted 26 free throws. But the Bucks made just 16 of their freebies while the Pacers poured in 24.

TURNING POINT: The Bucks pulled within a point at 90-89 with a 7-0 run that was capped by Ellis' layup with 6:58 left. The Pacers called a timeout and drew up a play for Granger to post up. When the double-team came, Granger fed George Hill at the top of the key for a 3-pointer that broke Milwaukee's momentum. The Bucks never got closer than three the rest of the way.

QUOTABLE II: "We obviously missed some. I missed three, which is unusual for me."
-- Bucks swingman Mike Dunleavy on Milwaukee's poor free-throw shooting

HOT: Hibbert's 7-for-14 from the field wasn't that notable, but his 9-for-10 performance at the foul line included 6 for 6 in the final 1:14.

NOT: Gooden had a big game with 12-of-18 shooting Friday night in a victory at Detroit but could only muster a 2-for-10 night on Saturday.

GOOD MOVE: After the Bucks seized the momentum and pulled within a point midway through the fourth, Indiana coach Frank Vogel called a timeout and drew up a play for Granger that led to Hill's big 3-pointer.

BAD MOVE: Bucks second-year forward Larry Sanders contributed eight points, six rebounds and three blocked shots along with a lot of energy. But when he found himself with the ball near the free-throw line after an offensive rebound by Ellis, he tried to force a pass to a cutting Jennings that was well off-target and went out of bounds for a costly turnover with 2:58 left and the Bucks trailing, 99-96.

NOTABLE: While the Bucks have gone 8-1 in their last nine road games, they're a miserable 8-13 in their last 21 at home. ... Pacers point guard Darren Collison missed his fourth straight game with a strained groin. ... Jennings recorded 10 assists in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. He also had season highs with eight rebounds and three blocked shots. ... Granger scored at least 18 points for the 11th consecutive game. ... The Pacers made 12 of their first 14 shots (85.7 percent) but went just 25 for 78 (32.1 percent) the rest of the way. ... Indiana's Leandro Barbosa went 3 for 5 on 3-pointers and 0 for 7 inside the arc. ... There appears to be some bad blood developing between the teams. There were two double-technical fouls (Hibbert and Sanders, 1:58, and Jennings and Granger 10.3 seconds) in the final two minutes and a flagrant foul against Indiana's David West, who smacked Dunleavy in the head on a drive in the second quarter. In the previous game three weeks ago, Dunleavy and Indiana's Tyler Hansbrough tangled and were hit with matching technicals.

UP NEXT: For the Pacers, Monday vs. Minnesota, Tuesday @ Philadelphia, Thursday vs. Milwaukee. For the Bucks, Wednesday @ Washington, Thursday @ Indiana, Saturday vs. New Jersey.

• Pacers: Collison, Foster
• Bucks: Brown, Leuer

• Pacers: Granger, Hibbert
• Bucks: Jennings, Sanders

• Lead Changes: 12
• Times Tied: 6

• Arena: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
• Officials: #19 James Capers, #56 Mark Ayotte, #58 Josh Tiven
• Attendance: 15143
• Duration: 2:11