INDIANAPOLIS – The Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers renewed their rivalry at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in their first matchup of the season on Nov. 3, with the Bucks outlasting the undermanned Pacers 117-115 on a game-winning jumper by Giannis Antetokounmpo at the buzzer.
The Pacers dropped to 1-6 on the season while the Bucks improved to 5-2, though it wasn’t pretty. Indiana trailed by as many as 11 in the first and fourth quarters, but Milwaukee never was able to pull away and, in fact, trailed at points in the heart of the game. The Pacers would tie it up 115-115 with 14.5 seconds left on an Aaron Nesmith layup around Antetokounmpo to set the closing highlight.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers called timeout and set up an play in which Antetokounmpo took an inbound from AJ Green, beginning a set that Rivers said was an imperfectly executed pick-and-roll attempt, which allowed Nesmith to switch onto Antetokounmpo and move Pascal Siakam off onto Green. Antetokounmpo did get the intended isolation play on the elbow, though, and he faded a 16-footer over Nesmith and a closing Isaiah Jackson.
“I told him he was crazy ’cause, yo, he didn’t have to do what he did – he spun and he waited for the second defender to come catch up,” Bucks guard Cole Anthony said with a smile. “Then he shot it. … That’s incredible. It’s an incredible shot and he bailed us out.”
Gary Trent Jr. grinned when asked about the shot as well.
“Surreal. Real 2K-ish,” the shooting guard said before describing the play. “It was beautiful to see. It was fun, it was exciting. Again, I’m glad he hit it. We got the win, most-needed win, we gotta get ready for (Toronto, Nov. 4), too.”
For his part, Antetokounmpo said his intent in that moment was to make sure to go long on his shot, and he was happy it went in – but Green said that’s something Antetokounmpo works on constantly.
“You see him work on that in the gym, and so it’s just one of those moments where preparation meets the moment and then you live with the result, make or miss, knowing you practice it,” Green said. “It probably felt good to come out on the winning side of it here, this time.”
It was Antetokounmpo’s second career buzzer beater, as he beat the Knicks 105-104 on Jan. 4, 2017. It was his fifth winning shot that went down in the final five seconds of a game.
“You can live if you miss,” Antetokounmpo said of taking such high pressure shots. “You cannot live if you don’t shoot it. Like, I can go to sleep if I take the shot, miss the shot, come in the locker room and look at my guys in the eye and say, ‘My bad. I’m gonna make the next one.’ But if you don’t shot it, it kind of hurts. So, yeah, I’ve been in that position many times. Sometimes I’ve missed, sometimes I’ve made. People don’t remember the time you miss, they remember all the times you make, so I’m happy about that.”
The game was the first between the teams since the Pacers eliminated the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. Indiana advanced to the NBA Finals before losing to Oklahoma City in seven games while Milwaukee revamped its play style and roster after the second straight postseason in which it was eliminated by Indiana.
“It’s really good to see us make one at the end of a game against them,” Rivers said. “That was really nice.”
Antetokounmpo scored 33 points to lead the Bucks, who had six players score in double figures. Siakam led Indiana with 32 points.
Milwaukee heads to Toronto to play the Raptors Nov. 5 in their first set of back-to-back games of the season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo dominates Pacers. Again.
The last time Antetokounmpo played in Indiana, the Pacers eliminated the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs in a Game 5 victory – the end of which was marred by a verbal, on-court confrontation between Antetokounmpo and John Haliburton.
Antetokounmpo averaged 33 points, 15.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists in the series, which was a preview of things to come in the 2025-26 campaign when the Bucks elected to lean into a shooting-rich, younger, more aggressive play style on both sides of the ball.
The two-time league MVP has began to author another campaign to win a third at the start of this season by coming into the game leading the league in scoring (34.2 points) and fourth in rebounding (13.4) while also averaging 7.2 assists.
So on Nov. 3, it was just a regular night of work for Antetokounmpo. He scored 33 points, including the game-winning fadeaway jumper at the buzzer. He also had 13 rebounds and five assists.
Antetokounmpo also knocked down his sixth 3-pointer of the season, on just 10 attempts. He made 14 triples all of last season.
It follows a now-years-long trend of the Bucks star dominating the Pacers regardless of who was around him or trying to defend him.
Since Rick Carlisle took over as the Indiana head coach in the 2021-22 season, Antetokounmpo had played 15 games against the Pacers and averaged a whopping 36.1 points per game, along with 12.6 rebounds and 6.5 assists.
His franchise-record 64-point game came against Indiana on Dec. 13, 2023 and Antetokounmpo has two more 50-point games against the Pacers in that time. He also has recorded 3 triple-doubles against Indiana in the last four seasons.
He’s also had some heated moments, beyond just the Haliburton altercation. Antetokounmpo also went face-to-face with Pacers guard Ben Mathurin at one point last playoffs and famously rushed the Indiana locker room after his record-breaking game after feeling disrespected by the Pacers for not shaking hands after their loss (and for thinking they took the game ball).
Pacers once again push Bucks to brink
One thing that can be said about the Indiana Pacers is they know exactly who they are and how they are supposed to play, and that was once again on display on Nov. 3. Despite being tied for the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference and missing five key rotation players – and then losing two more players to injury during the game – they led briefly in the first half and kept it close by out-hustling and harassing the Bucks.
In the first half, Indiana scored 11 points off nine offensive rebounds and scored six points off 12 Milwaukee turnovers. The activity forced the Bucks into 15 personal fouls, also, helping the Pacers to 18 points off free throws.
They outscored the Bucks by 14 points thanks to those differences, keeping them in the game at the break trailing just 56-53.
Indiana finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds, scoring 20 points off the additional chances. The Pacers also forced 18 Bucks turnovers, leading to 13 extra points for Indiana. The Pacers also made another 11 free throws in the second half.
Myles Turner returns to Indiana, hits key basket
Milwaukee center Myles Turner returned to Indiana for the first time since signing a four-year, $108 million free-agent deal with the Bucks after 10 years with the Pacers. Despite being the franchise leader in blocked shots while being among the top 10 all-time Pacers players in 3-pointers and games played, the 29-year-old has had an up-and-down relationship with Pacers fans.
Turner met with Milwaukee and Indiana media after shootaround Nov. 3 and clarified his feelings about leaving the Pacers for the first time. Though he expressed nothing but love for the fan base, he was booed throughout the team’s tribute video to him and then when he touched the ball in the opening moments of the game.
The Bucks’ new big man hit a huge go-ahead basket with 2 minutes, 22 seconds left to give his team a 111-109 lead, and then he assisted on a Gary Trent Jr. 3-pointer to make it 114-109 Bucks. He scored 9 points and pulling down 7 rebounds while blocking five shots.
Aaron Nesmith commits flagrant foul, Pacers beat up on Giannis
The Pacers may have been without Bucks agitators Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Mathurin and TJ McConnell due to injury, but they still had Nesmith and Isaiah Jackson to get after it and Nesmith didn’t wait long to make his presence felt. He wound up and hit Antetokounmpo on his right arm from behind as the Bucks star lifted off to attack the rim on a fast break, knocking Antetokounmpo to the ground.
After a lengthy review, the foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 1.
This play came a game after Sacramento’s Russell Westbrook grabbed Antetokounmpo by the top of his shoulder and the head and neck area to stop him from attacking the rim – but that play was deemed to be just a common foul by the officials.
As for Nesmith, he has never shied away from hammering Antetokounmpo, as he spun Antetokounmpo around on a hard foul during a game at Fiserv Forum on Dec. 13, 2023. That action led to a heated verbal altercation between Nesmith and Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr., leading to Portis’ ejection.
Pacers forward Pascal Siakam then took over on the physical end in trying to get into the Milwaukee big man’s head, as he hit Antetokounmpo in the back as the Bucks star went up for a dunk in the second quarter, forcing Antetokounmpo to hang on the rim to collect his balance. Siakam and Antetokounmpo were then both hit with delay of game penalties for shoving one another prior to an inbound pass.
Then in the third quarter, Siakam fell down trying to foul Antetokounmpo intentionally in the open court and when that wasn’t called another Pacers player gave Antetokounmpo another uncalled swipe on his way to the rim.
In the fourth quarter, Siakam finally sent Antetokounmpo to the floor by hooking his arms as he went up for a layup, drawing a common foul. Later in the closing frame, Pacers forward Jarace Walker sent Antetokounmpo awkwardly to the floor with a hard foul across the arms as he soared for an attempted reverse layup attempt.
Siakam then challenged Antetokounmpo as the rim in the closing two minutes, leading to another collision and awkward fall for the MVP, and he grabbed his left knee as he sat on the baseline out of bounds. Antetokounmpo eventually got up and stayed in the game, but he has been dealing with pain in the knee since he injured it playing the Knicks on Oct. 28.
Bucks change up all-bench unit
Before the game, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers took his all-bench grouping to task for not defending or rebounding well at all, so during the game he changed up some of the rotations. Rivers left Turner and guard Gary Trent Jr. on the floor for a bit longer and then brought in big man Jericho Sims to play with Kyle Kuzma, Taurean Prince, Cole Anthony and Portis. Sims got minutes instead of wing Amir Coffey.
The all-bench group opened the second quarter as usual, but starting guard Ryan Rollins checked in less than two minutes into the frame.
The changes didn’t help much, as a 10-point lead was whittled down to three before Antetokounmpo, Trent and AJ Green were substituted back into the game early in the second quarter.
In the second half it was Green’s turn to play with the bench unit, but the group still struggled to contain rebounds but did manage to rebuild a lead back to 11 points and maintain a 100-91 lead with just under eight minutes to play in the game before Antetokounmpo returned.
Unfortunately for the Bucks, the starters could not hang on to that advantage as Indiana tied it at 109 in the final three minutes.
5 numbers
1: Technical fouls in the game. Gary Trent Jr. was called for one after arguing with an official after a non-call on the offensive end. The teams combined for 25 technical fouls over 11 playoff games the last two seasons (12 in five games in 2024-25, 13 in six games in 2023-24).
1: Set of double fouls called, on the Bucks’ Taurean Prince and the Pacers’ Tony Bradley late in the third quarter as the two jostled for position off the ball and the two exchanged words. Bradley then immediately set a moving screen on Prince and knocked him to the floor on the ensuing possession.
4: Blocks by Bucks center Myles Turner. It was a season-high for Turner, who blocked four or more shots in a game 13 times last season.
59: Free throw percentage by the Bucks, who came into the game as the second-worst free throw shooting team in the league at 70.7%.
154: Career games in which Giannis Antetokounmpo scored at least 30 points, pulled down at least 10 rebounds and handed out at least five assists. He trails only former Bucks legends Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (157) for most in NBA history.
Is Giannis playing?
Giannis Antetokounmpo is probable to play tonight vs. the Pacers with soreness in his left knee.
Tyrese Haliburton is out for the year
Oshkosh native and Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is out for the game and the season after tearing his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
What time is the Bucks game?
The game will tip off at 6 p.m. CT.
What channel are the Bucks on?
The game will be broadcast locally on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin with Lisa Byington, Marques Johnson and Stephen Watson on the call.
Milwaukee Bucks injury report
Bucks starting lineup
Bucks vs. Pacers odds, over/under
Milwaukee is a 5.5-point favorite over Indiana, and the over/under is set at 235.5 points per BetMGM.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giannis Antetokounmpo hits buzzer beater to lift Bucks to 117-115 victory over Pacers
Reporting by Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
