Though the Indiana Pacers played about as competitively as they have recently against the Milwaukee Bucks, that moral victory was all they were able to take away in a game that wound up getting completely away from them in the second half. The Pacers led for only 26 seconds tonight, the inability to do anything with it led to a third quarter showing that put it away for good.
Indiana allowed 39 points in the third quarter after holding Milwaukee to just 26 each in the first two. After scoring on the opening basket of the third to make it a 52-50 game, Milwaukee simply inched their lead back up, going up by as many as 17 in the quarter.