If I had been told this series would come together at the beginning of the season, I would have been incredibly intrigued. The Bucks, post Dame trade, I had such high hopes for this season, I thought they could have competed with the Celtics for the number one team in the East. The Pacers, Haliburton exploded out of the gate, leading his team to an astounding offensive pace, holding the number one offense by a large margin for a significant amount of time. I’m still intrigued by this series, but for the opposite reasons. Adrian Griffin quickly showed he didn’t belong as a head coach of a team with expectations as high as the Bucks, even under Rivers the Bucks have not come near the high expectations Many including myself had for this season. Post Haliburton injury, the Pacers have slowed down significantly. The magic that intrigued me early in the season seems to have gone away even with Haliburton back on the floor. Two seasons that came crashing down after high expectations early on, we’ll see which team caps off this disappointing year with a first round playoff loss.

Bucks

The Bucks are still the Bucks. The constant being Giannis playing great on both ends of the floor, but a lot has changed since the 2021 championship team. Coaching changes, big trades, and injuries have given this team a different look. But all of that could be for naught, with Giannis still slated to miss the beginning of the series, if the Bucks drop 2 games due to Giannis being injured, can they crawl back? The Pacers play a high energy, run it down your throat style. An effective style against teams that rely on big men closing off the rim on defense, but while that may apply to Lopez, a healthy Giannis is more than able to keep up in transition. With how overwhelming the Pacers can be offensively, they are also prone to be overwhelmed on defense. Lilard being able to take advantage of whomever they try to guard him with will be very important to opening up the Bucks offense and limiting the Pacers’ ability to run off misses and get going in transition.

Pacers

Even if Haliburton isn’t playing as well as he was pre injury, the Pacers offense is still liable to catch teams off guard with how fast they can play, especially an older team like the Bucks. Without Giannis, per reporting as of the 16th, those contests are must win games for the Pacers, not just because of a lack of answers for him defensively, but his ability to run up and down the floor as well as protect the rim at a high level can significantly decrease the effectiveness of the Pacers transition opportunities. Where Lopez, Portis, or whomever else they put on the floor is liable to fall behind a fast pace back and forth stretch, Giannis is the one Buck who I truly believe can stuff the Pacers biggest advantage, driving them to play into Milwakees biggest advantage, half court offense. How will the Pacers attempt to defend Giannis? After the trade for Siakam, they do have one option. However, that would still require heavy help responsibilities from Turner, leaving the paint open for potential one on one attacks for Lilard. Or do you trust Siakam and live with some big offense for Giannis, but try to cut off any other big contributions for the other Bucks? An interesting decision, one that could be much less so if the Pacers fail to take advantage of a Giannis-less Bucks team and steal a game or two.