2024 NBA Playoffs - East 1st Round: #3 Milwaukee Bucks vs. #6 Indiana Pacers (IND WINS 4-2)

[yoadknux]

It's a shame we couldn't see a fully healthy Giannias & Lillard this year.

Respect to Dam for grinding it out last game.

Agreed but no excuses. When you build top heavy teams like most of the NBA does, once you lose a player or two that's a wrap.

There isn’t a team in the NBA where if you lose your best player, much less your two best players, the season wouldn’t instantly be over.

Not one.

It’s a star driven league.

Ironically in the brawl season the Pacers lost Artest (2nd best player) for the entire season and Jermaine O'neal (best player) for half a season, and still made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs

[djsunyc]

It's a shame we couldn't see a fully healthy Giannias & Lillard this year.

Respect to Dam for grinding it out last game.

Agreed but no excuses. When you build top heavy teams like most of the NBA does, once you lose a player or two that's a wrap.

There isn’t a team in the NBA where if you lose your best player, much less your two best players, the season wouldn’t instantly be over.

Not one.

It’s a star driven league.

as each year goes by, health is becoming a more recognized factor for teams. and that should be part of the evaluation. kawhi is a great player but i would pick like 10 other guys ahead of him for a playoff team b/c kawhi won't be healthy.

under the radar but giannis has been unreliable healthwise in the playoffs since the chip.

[Profound23]

Agreed but no excuses. When you build top heavy teams like most of the NBA does, once you lose a player or two that's a wrap.

There isn’t a team in the NBA where if you lose your best player, much less your two best players, the season wouldn’t instantly be over.

Not one.

It’s a star driven league.

as each year goes by, health is becoming a more recognized factor for teams. and that should be part of the evaluation. kawhi is a great player but i would pick like 10 other guys ahead of him for a playoff team b/c kawhi won't be healthy.

under the radar but giannis has been unreliable healthwise in the playoffs since the chip.

He was healthy the next year, Khris went down. Then last year he got hurt because of Kevin Love. This year when his Achilles up we never gave him rest and made it worse. But I do worry about his body holding up now with his style of play.

[Statlanta]

I wonder if Doc wishes he could go back to being an objective observer than being the coach of a team missing two stars down 2-1 to an underdog.

[hippesthippo]

Nah, just giving my opinion on each series as I was placing my bets lol.

you probably thought "same story, Miami upset Milwaukee while Giannis was injured so Indy can do the same"

difference is Miami has the most elite coach in the league when it comes to getting the maximum out of his guys and Jimmy Butler was coasting the regular season. we still don't even know if Hali is legitimately an elite player

I personally believe Mathurin has the 2nd highest ceiling of anyone on the Pacers also. him being out is a hit to their pace

an even bigger difference than the coach is that Jimmy averaged 37.6PPG on 67% TS in that series against us last year!

a statline Jordan never even matched

truly one of the very best performances all time and it kinda gets forgotten because he was back to being a 25ppg 55% ts player the rest of their finals run and people who didn't watch that series assume that's the guy who beat us, not the reincarnation of Prime MJ

Nah, I meant what I said. They're an aging team with a terrible coach. Feeling pretty good about that bet.

[Ritzo]

When Khris is finally healthy, Giannis and Dame went down

[BloodNinja]

Agreed but no excuses. When you build top heavy teams like most of the NBA does, once you lose a player or two that's a wrap.

There isn’t a team in the NBA where if you lose your best player, much less your two best players, the season wouldn’t instantly be over.

Not one.

It’s a star driven league.

Ironically in the brawl season the Pacers lost Artest (2nd best player) for the entire season and Jermaine O'neal (best player) for half a season, and still made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs

Those guys were like the zombie Heat now.

[Iwasawitness]

I’m really sorry this is happening to Bucks fans. Giannis/Lillard has so much potential but it looks like at least for this year, we aren’t going to see it come to fruition. I can’t say I’m not at least a little satisfied given some of the decisions they’ve made that have made me angry in the past (I’m still not over them firing Bud after the death of his brother), but it’s still gotta suck knowing that the newly formed Bucks have a very real chance of ending the first season of the Lillard/Giannis saga as a first round exit. I know that feeling.

[GrandTheftRondo]

Dame confirmed out

I said it last season when they got eliminated, the biggest factor with them continually appears to be health. Giannis seems to keep running into injury issues come playoff time.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Read on Twitter

Expected, but sucks, sorry Bucks fans.

On the bright side for the Bucks, the Pacers spent all season losing to the worst teams in the NBA. They play down to their competition in a major way, so I wouldn’t rule anything out.

[LoveMyRaps]

Pacers were pretty much gifted a first round bye.

Second round matchup against the 76ers or Knicks will be much more interesting.

[LoveMyRaps]

Doc is gonna be back next season because the Bucks had a valid excuse for getting bounced in the first round.

Sorry Bucks fans.

[web123888]

B2b first round exits. Very disappointing Bucks run ever since their title. All possibly due to injuries from 2022-2024.

[Triple M]

The Bucks have arguably been the best team the last 5 years but continuous playoff runs might take a lot out of a team physically to the point injuries creep up. The playoffs are more physical now and i think it gets downplayed how hard it is to get to the finals.

The last 5 years we haven't seen a repeat champ but we also haven't seen finalist make it back to the Finals/CF.

It's not a coincidence that Middleton gets injured after 21 and Giannis gets injured the last 2 years

[GSWFan1994]

Dang, I really wanted to watch Jokic vs Giannis in the Finals.

[Bernman]

Even w/out Giannis, this is probably a 2-1 or 3-0 Bucks' series right now, provided Dame & Middleton hadn't gotten hurt.

Middleton was limping around in game 2 & had by far his worst game, while the Pacers pulled away in the 4th quarter. Midds was a monster in games 1 & 3.

And the Bucks were in position to win game 3 when Lillard strains his achilles. The Bucks bigs & Doc have to answer for their crimes, but Nembhard got to hunt O-rebs bcuz Lillard couldn't move to box out, jump, or threaten to break.

If the Bucks can pull off the minor miracle of winning at Indy today, spearheaded by Middleton & they hypothetically went on to win the title, Khris should be in the Hall of Fame. Otherwise, don't fruitlessly risk Giannis nor Dame for game 5. It'd be a long shot.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

When Khris is finally healthy, Giannis and Dame went down

over the last 5 years khris has only missed games in 1 playoff run due to a freak wet spot on the floor. giannis has missed games in 4 of the last 5. its just expected now when teams are playing hard against him with his mileage and style. we know dame cant stay healthy. he was hurting all year from something and if wed been tanking probably would have had his usual 50 game season like the last 3-4.

its crazy but our stars should all have their nicknames changed to humpty dumpty, mr glass and the stickman. its that bad.... but as it relates to this time of year khris has been an our workhorse since the bubble

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Pacers were pretty much gifted a first round bye.

Second round matchup against the 76ers or Knicks will be much more interesting.

I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch, if you’ve seen the way the Pacers play teams like this, you’d understand. Playoffs are different and hopefully they can take care of business, but they are an inconsistent team and their off nights are bad.

That said, if we do advance, the Pacers/Knicks story would be fun to see again.

If the Pacers play the 76ers, I may not even bother watching. No interest in watching Embiid play dirty with no consequences, and then flop for 20 FTs a game.

[whatisacenter]

I hate injuries.

[TJ_Ford_11]

Agreed but no excuses. When you build top heavy teams like most of the NBA does, once you lose a player or two that's a wrap.

There isn’t a team in the NBA where if you lose your best player, much less your two best players, the season wouldn’t instantly be over.

Not one.

It’s a star driven league.

Ironically in the brawl season the Pacers lost Artest (2nd best player) for the entire season and Jermaine O'neal (best player) for half a season, and still made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs

But comparing the Giannis/Dame duo to O’Neal/Artest is like comparing a Tesla to a Pontiac.