Is Friday’s Road Game a Must Win for The Milwaukee Bucks?
Our Bucks vs Pacers Score Prediction Has Indiana Covering the Spread in Game 3?
The Indiana Pacers were the first road team to win a playoff game in this year’s NBA Playoffs. Down 1-0 in the series, the Pacers took it to the Giannis-less Bucks and earned a 125-108 victory to tie the series at one. That was one of the highest NBA scores we’ll see in the playoffs this year.
With that, the Pacers are now in control of the first-round playoff series. The two NBA teams will travel to Indiana for the next two games, with the next scheduled game on Friday at 5:30 pm ET.
It’s still unclear if Giannis Antetokounmpo will make his return for the hardwood for Game 3. But things aren’t looking so positive for Giannis if he’s already missed the first two games of the series.
With his uncertainty, the Bucks are currently underdogs to win this series against the Pacers. Indiana will likely be favored in both home games against the Bucks before returning to Milwaukee for Game 5. That would put the Pacers up, 3-1 in the series, and make it really challenging for the Bucks to get back into the first-round series.
We know for sure the Pacers are favorites for Game 3. At home, Indiana is a 4.5-point favorite, with the total currently at 224.
Check out our Bucks vs Pacers score prediction for Game 3 of the series below.
Pacers vs Bucks 
Records: Indiana Pacers (47-37), Milwaukee Bucks (50-33)
Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Day/Time: Streaming: ESPN
Bucks vs Pacers Score Prediction & Trends
In the first two NBA games of this series, each team has won straight up once. Each team has also won against the spread once, and the Over and Under have each hit once.
There are no real trends in this series so far.
However, head-to-head, the Pacers are 6-4 against the spread in the past ten games against the Bucks. The Pacers are also 6-4 straight up, and the Over has hit in seven of those ten matchups.
The Pacers also won the only game in Gainbridge Fieldhouse against the Bucks earlier in the year, 142-130. It was one of the highest-scoring games of the season.
Are The Pacer Fans Frontrunners?
After the Bucks lost to the Pacers on Tuesday, Bobby Portis called out the Pacers fans, calling them frontrunners.
The rivalry between the Pacers and Bucks has grown this season. Both teams matched up late in the In-Season Tournament and had some thrilling finishes this season.
Portis acknowledged that Pacers fans laugh and clap when things are going good, but say nothing when things are going bad.
If anything, the Pacers got bulletin board material for their next two home games. This was never the best position for the Bucks in the NBA playoff strandings. They would’ve matched up better against other teams in the Eastern Conference.
Pascal Siakam’s Leadership
The Indiana Pacers traded for Pascal Siakam in the middle of the season when they noticed the team had something special going on.
They were looking for that star player to pair with Tyrese Haliburton, who could lead by example, score points, and rebound at a high rate.
Siakam has probably done more in the first two games of the series than even the Indiana front office thought.
To begin the playoffs, Siakam has averaged 36.5 points per game in 38.5 minutes. He’s also averaged 12 rebounds and four assists with just one turnover in both games combined.
His head coach, Rick Carlisle, praised Siakam for not getting rattled. Siakam’s experience has ultimately helped the rest of the group acclimate in the playoffs.
Indiana Proved Doubters Wrong!
The Pacers just embarrassed the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first-round series. Not only did the Pacers win 125-108 on the road as slight underdogs, but they scored 140.2 points per 100 possessions.
Indiana did this by shooting an effective field goal percentage of 64.9% and turning the ball over just 4.6% of the time.
The Pacers didn’t get to the foul line much and ultimately didn’t add many offensive rebounds. However, the Bucks didn’t do much of that either. Meanwhile, the Bucks scored only 119.3 points per 100 possessions and shot an effective field goal percentage of 52.4%.
This is the second consecutive game where the Pacers held the Bucks to no better than a 55.8% effective field goal percentage. Despite the loss, Milwaukee’s offensive output was also better in the second game. It all had to do with the Pacers’ offensive game plan.
In three of the last six games, the Pacers have scored at least 137.6 points per 100 possessions. The Pacers have become an offensive juggernaut. While the defense hasn’t played up to par, they’ve done a great job on the boards against Milwaukee.
The Bucks have grabbed no more than 17% of offensive rebounds in either game. Milwaukee is ultimately much more inconsistent from the field than the Pacers. Plus, in three of the last four games without Giannis, the Bucks have allowed at least 124.1 points per 100 possessions. Again, they allowed 140.2 points per 100 possessions against the Pacers in Game 2 without giving up many offensive rebounds or foul shots.
That’s how many good looks the Pacers are getting by just following the game plan.
So what happens when there are more offensive rebounds off missed shots? What happens when the Pacers are more aggressive and get to the foul line more?
It will only worsen for the Bucks, especially if Giannis is still out.
Check out all our previews for the NBA games today. Most NBA series’ will tighten up as we get deeper into the Playoffs.
After considering everything, our Bucks vs Pacers score prediction has the Pacers coming out on top at home against the Bucks. Consider taking the Pacers -4.5 (-110) in Game 3 of this series.
Bucks vs Pacers Betting Odds
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