moranelkarifnews : Indiana comes from 7 down in final 40 seconds of OT to beat Bucks, win series on Haliburton bucket

The Bucks were up by seven and just needed to hang on for 40 more seconds of overtime to keep their season alive and force a Game 6 back in Milwaukee.

Then came the Andrew Nembhard 33-foot 3-pointer. Then the Bucks’ Gary Trent Jr. — who was brilliant all game and scored 12 points in overtime — threw a pass right to Nembhard that he intercepted. Which set up Tyrese Haliburton getting to the rim for the and-1, and suddenly the seven-point lead was just one with 17.1 seconds left. That’s when the wheels came off the Milwaukee express. Trent Jr. was all alone and fumbled a pass from AJ Green out of bounds, which led to this game-winner from Haliburton.

Throughout the series, Milwaukee struggled to stop the Pacers from scoring, and that ultimately came back to bite them in Game 5, ending their season. Pacers center Myles Turner summed it up best.

It was such an intense game that a minor postgame scuffle broke out on the court, where players were separated, reportedly with some friction between Antetokounmpo and Haliburton’s father (Haliburton said he had told his father postgame that he was in the wrong).

Indiana won 119-118 in overtime and takes the series 4-1. The Pacers advance to take on the No. 1 seed, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the next round.

“I’m still trying to process it. That’s one of the craziest games I’ve been a part of,” Myles Turner said.

Milwaukee heads into a summer where Antetokounmpo and the franchise will stand at a crossroads.

That crossroads is all about getting Antetokounmpo the help he needs to win — he was brilliant in this game as he has been all series, racking up a 30-point, 20-rebound, 13-assist triple-double.

He got help in this one. Trent Jr. hit eight triples on his way to 33 points, while Green added six more and 19 points. He got help early when Milwaukee raced out to a 13-0 lead to start the game and pushed that lead as high as 20 in the first half.

The reason for that fast start was Milwaukee turned up the defensive pressure, played with desperation, and the Pacers wilted in the face of that shooting 5-of-20 to start the game (and 1-of-8 from 3).

However, like all series, the Bucks could not sustain that defense. The Bucks’ lead was six at the half, and it was tied going into the fourth.

It was a brutal series for Milwaukee. Not just this loss, but also losing Damian Lillard to a torn Achilles, which likely keeps him out of most or all of next season as well.

Which gets to the crossroads Milwaukee and Antetokounmpo faces. This team has been eliminated in the first round for three consecutive years, the last two by the Pacers, and because of a lack of draft picks (don’t control theirs until 2031) and cap space, there is no clear path to build a contender around Antetokounmpo. He has never asked for a trade, and when he has pressured the team in the past to upgrade the roster they have, including landing Lillard. Now Antetokounmpo faces the personal question of what matters most to him.

It’s going to be a wild summer in Wisconsin, either way.

Indiana isn’t thinking about the summer, it is thinking about the Cavaliers.

The Bucks were up by seven and just needed to hang on for 40 more seconds of overtime to keep their season alive and force a Game 6 back in Milwaukee.

Then came the Andrew Nembhard 33-foot 3-pointer. Then the Bucks’ Gary Trent Jr. — who was brilliant all game and scored 12 points in overtime — threw a pass right to Nembhard that he intercepted. Which set up Tyrese Haliburton getting to the rim for the and-1, and suddenly the seven-point lead was just one with 17.1 seconds left. That’s when the wheels came off the Milwaukee express. Trent Jr. was all alone and fumbled a pass from AJ Green out of bounds, which led to this game-winner from Haliburton.

Throughout the series, Milwaukee struggled to stop the Pacers from scoring, and that ultimately came back to bite them in Game 5, ending their season. Pacers center Myles Turner summed it up best.

It was such an intense game that a minor postgame scuffle broke out on the court, where players were separated, reportedly with some friction between Antetokounmpo and Haliburton’s father (Haliburton said he had told his father postgame that he was in the wrong).

Indiana won 119-118 in overtime and takes the series 4-1. The Pacers advance to take on the No. 1 seed, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the next round.

“I’m still trying to process it. That’s one of the craziest games I’ve been a part of,” Myles Turner said.

Milwaukee heads into a summer where Antetokounmpo and the franchise will stand at a crossroads.

That crossroads is all about getting Antetokounmpo the help he needs to win — he was brilliant in this game as he has been all series, racking up a 30-point, 20-rebound, 13-assist triple-double.

He got help in this one. Trent Jr. hit eight triples on his way to 33 points, while Green added six more and 19 points. He got help early when Milwaukee raced out to a 13-0 lead to start the game and pushed that lead as high as 20 in the first half.

The reason for that fast start was Milwaukee turned up the defensive pressure, played with desperation, and the Pacers wilted in the face of that shooting 5-of-20 to start the game (and 1-of-8 from 3).

However, like all series, the Bucks could not sustain that defense. The Bucks’ lead was six at the half, and it was tied going into the fourth.

It was a brutal series for Milwaukee. Not just this loss, but also losing Damian Lillard to a torn Achilles, which likely keeps him out of most or all of next season as well.

Which gets to the crossroads Milwaukee and Antetokounmpo faces. This team has been eliminated in the first round for three consecutive years, the last two by the Pacers, and because of a lack of draft picks (don’t control theirs until 2031) and cap space, there is no clear path to build a contender around Antetokounmpo. He has never asked for a trade, and when he has pressured the team in the past to upgrade the roster they have, including landing Lillard. Now Antetokounmpo faces the personal question of what matters most to him.

It’s going to be a wild summer in Wisconsin, either way.

Indiana isn’t thinking about the summer, it is thinking about the Cavaliers.