The struggling Milwaukee Bucks look to right the ship as they host the floundering Indiana Pacers on Sunday afternoon.
The Bucks reside a season-low 12 games below the .500 mark after they dropped a 122-99 decision to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. They also continued a tough streak of losing big, with six of the past nine games they’ve lost being by a margin of 22 or more points.
Ryan Rollins recorded a 22-point, eight-assist effort on Saturday to lead Milwaukee, which once again was without Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf). Kevin Porter Jr. added 18 points, seven assists and seven boards.
“I thought they were so much more of the physical team. Guards were rebounding over our bigs, they got in the paint and played bully ball,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “We had 10 unforced turnovers. We did a lot of bad things today so we deserved to lose.”
The Pacers come in riding a 12-game losing streak, which is one setback shy of their longest skid of what has been an injury-riddled season. They lost 13 straight from Dec. 12-Jan. 6.
Indiana is coming off a 101-92 home loss to the New York Knicks on Friday night.
Notably it was the second game in the Pacers tenure of Ivica Zubac, who was a prized acquisition at the trade deadline, with Indiana focused on next season’s return of superstar Tyrese Haliburton. His debut was delayed because of a left-ankle sprain,
Zubac collected 11 points and eight rebounds while Jarace Walker led Indiana with 18 and nine, respectively. Aaron Nesmith also added 12 points.
“We’re working to maintain a level and standard of competitiveness and unselfishness,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “Right now the plus-minus stuff is always noisy. We just need to look at the fight we’re in.”
Carlisle added his praise for Zubac and what he’s brought in just his couple of games with the team, including screen-setting and leadership in timeouts.
“I think Zu has really good feel for the game and the guys he’s playing with, even though he hasn’t played with these guys,” Carlisle said. “His screen setting is elite, bone-crushing. He’s the kind of veteran you want on board.”
Zubac is listed as questionable against the Bucks (ankle).
Pascal Siakam leads the Pacers on the stat sheet by averaging 24.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. Andrew Nembhard adds 17 points and 7.3 assists per game.
Siakam (knee) missed the Friday game against New York along with Quenton Jackson (calf).
Milwaukee was without both Antetokounmpo and Ousmane Dieng (illness) on Saturday afternoon. Porter (knee) was questionable but was able to go after missing four games. All are listed as day-to-day.
Milwaukee has the opportunity to complete the four-game sweep of the season series with a victory. The Bucks have won four consecutive games against Indiana dating back to last season and won the season set for the seventh time in the past eight years.
Despite the Pacers’ tough season, two of the three games have been decided by six points or fewer, including a highlight of the season for Milwaukee after Antetokounmpo hit a buzzer-beating, game-winning jumper in a 117-115 win on Nov. 3 in Indianapolis.
–Field Level Media
