How the Pacers sped over the Bucks in 15 minutes

Indiana hasn't been able to stop Giannis, so they forced him to stop them.

By Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

March Madness, indeed. With 2:46 to play in the third quarter, the Pacers trailed the Bucks, 99-90. Fifteen minutes later, they secured a double-digit win over the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference, outscoring Milwaukee, 49-26, with Tyrese Haliburton watching -- nay, standing and cheering -- from the sidelines. After all, there was a lot to stand and cheer about, as the absurdities accumulated nearly as fast as the rain that was falling from three. During that stretch, the Pacers made the *extremely shrewd* adjustment to make what felt like every shot, shooting 73 percent overall, while knocking down seven of their 22 triples on the night.

In a sense, the rim seemed to enlarge with their confidence. T.J. McConnell, who has made a total of nine shots in isolation all season, drilled a pull-up two over Bobby Portis without requiring a screen. In addition to leaving Joe Ingles in need of a parachute with a step-back three, of which he's attempted a grand total of eight in 60 games played, Aaron Nesmith drove to the opposite side of the paint and then did a classic Rajon Rondo-style ball fake to a spinning fadeaway to shake Giannis Antetokounmpo. Because... sure, why not? Meanwhile, Jordan Nwora continued to flash some unexpected passing chops, finding Jalen Smith cutting behind him with a blind drop-off pass after driving the lane and pulling Giannis with him. And, oh yeah, Myles Turner also did the whole thing where he put Giannis on a massive poster, going up high and down hard after diving to the rim. Think of it this way, if what happened Monday against the Pistons, when the game devolved into blitzing old friend Cory Joseph out of necessity, was a fever dream, this was nirvana.

And yet, aside from how many times Giannis' name was just mentioned, none of those plays fully capture the sea change that happened on that end of the floor as well as a few changes that occurred at the other. As in, Nesmith didn't just create separation for himself against Giannis, he also slid over from the ball-side corner against Giannis, adding to the team's ongoing trend of help-switching on 45-drives, while drawing the MVP candidate's fifth foul with over seven minutes to play.

Shortly thereafter, coinciding with when Giannis went to the bench with foul trouble, Indiana's bench could be seen communicating key defensive instructions in reaction to that foul trouble.

Remember, at the start of the second quarter, the Pacers found some success altering the rhythm of the game with 3-2 zone. That's because, oftentimes, when the Bucks go small with Giannis at the five, they'll run inverted pick-and-roll. However, because the Pacers had two help defenders ready at either side, Milwaukee had to reorient their offense a bit from the norm, as they were held scoreless on six of 11 zone possessions during the frame. But, here's the thing: Although the Pacers have played a lot of different types of zone over the last three seasons, they haven't played much 3-2 zone over the last three seasons, with that particular coverage not being the preferred changeup of choice since the final year of Nate McMillan's tenure. Consequently, once the Bucks made the "adjustment," positioning Giannis in the middle for over the top passes, the Pacers very much looked like a team that hadn't played much 3-2 zone since the final year of Nate McMillan's tenure, with the coverage suddenly appearing as though it was being orchestrated by tank gifs.

As such, the Pacers ditched the zone completely during the fourth quarter; and instead, dismantled their wobbly regimented lines in favor of reinforcements. For example, look at how demonstrative Lloyd Pierce and Ronald Nored are being from the sidelines, summoning Jalen Smith to double more quickly from the weak-side, after T.J. McConnell picked up this foul while attempting to defend Khris Middleton.

To that point, the aim was clear. While Giannis was off the floor (and eventually when he returned), the Pacers were going to help from the baseline and force the two stars to give up the ball against mismatches, recovering on hang-time passes.

In essence, though Giannis is involved here, this is an all-encompassing snapshot of the mission. In contrast to the prior meeting, Turner is assigned to roam from Bobby Portis, with Nesmith checking Antetokounmpo and switching ball-screens. Once the screen happens, the smaller defender fronts the post, with help coming from the baseline. As was the case with Middleton, the goal is to induce a pass that requires putting air under the ball so as to buy time to spring back out to the perimeter.

Got it? Ok, well, with Middleton being swarmed and shots not falling, Giannis only stayed on the bench for all of 57 seconds, at which point, when he re-entered the game, he found himself in unchartered waters. At least, as it pertains to the literal depths of how far the Pacers were willing to go to challenge him. This, for example, would be wild to watch without context. In case it isn't clear, this is Andrew Nembhard, isolated on the wing against Pat Connaughton, receiving a screen from Myles Turner to go directly at ... Giannis. Just for emphasis, not Joe Ingles, not Bobby Portis, and not Connaughton. Giannis.

Again, wild stuff when considered in a vacuum, and Nembhard stopped short of getting all the way to the basket, but that was the exception to the rule for him in the second half, when normally, the rule doesn't have many exceptions. Rather than playing for fadeaways and step-back twos off contact, he was as strong-willed as ever around the rim, whether propelling his way there in transition or clearing space with a bump. On the night, he recorded 13 drives -- which is above both his average for the season (8.9), as well as his average over the games in which he's started at nominal point guard (11.2). Because of that shift in approach, which started after halftime, he was already primed to issue what became a team-wide ultimatum, forcing Giannis to decide between guarding and protecting his fouls.

Hence the reason why Nembhard experienced more resistance from the wind, as he breezed down the floor, than he did in finishing this reverse layup.

And why he got past Giannis again, while displaying the strengths of his weak hand.

Plus, the same can be said for many of the aforementioned plays (i.e. Nesmith pulling a Rondo, Nwora transforming into a drop-off pass maestro, etc.), as well as the ease with which McConnell was able to turn the corner here, attacking out of the team's pet play, Iverson-Boomerang-Step, with Turner notably deployed to set the step-up screen, again, with the intention of attacking Giannis.

In the absence of Brook Lopez as a door stop, the Pacers went 9-of-9 in the restricted area over the final 15 minutes, falling just one make shy of Giannis' tally for the game (10), in which he logged fewer than 30 minutes for only the second time this season in a contest that was lost by under 20 points with getting injured.

All of which is to say that, for a team that looked wholly unable to stop him in the prior match-up, as he amassed 41 points while rampaging the paint, the Pacers did well this go-around in forcing him to stop them, leveraging not only his foul trouble in actual action but also applying pressure to play him at the risk of inaction.