After an almost three week hiatus with a knee injury, Victor Oladipo returned to the Indiana Pacer lineup Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. The matchup pitted the NBA’s top offense (Bucks) against the league’s top defense (Pacers). Giannis Antetokounmpo entered the game nearly averaging a triple-double. It didn’t matter as the Pacers cruised to a 113-97 win over the Bucks.
With the return of their star player the Pacers got out to an 8-0 run to begin the game. Myles Turner and Bogdan Bogdanovic combined for 17 of Indiana’s first 22 points. Giannis and the Bucks struggled to find a flow offensively by missing 6 of their opening 8 shots from the field.
The second quarter was much of the same including a barrage of threes from Turner who attempted a career-high 6 threes while converting on 4 of them.
“I was just so wide open,” said Turner. “You have to shoot those shots. I’d be remiss if I didn’t shoot those.”
Victor showed very little rust from his injury getting involved early amassing 5 points and 5 rebounds in the first half. With another threat on the floor it. In the second half he seemed to lose his legs a bit missing 4 straight shots but was still 45 percent from the field.
“I really didn’t know what to expect but just when I was out there I did what I could to help my team win and when I wasn’t I was cheering on the bench, said Oladipo. “It’s obviously gonna take me some time to get my wind and my game legs back but I’m just glad to be out there.”
The game was never in Question for the Pacers who held Giannis Antetokounmpo to 12 points total and slowed the flow of the Bucks fast-paced offense all night. Eric Bledsoe was the shining spot for Milwaukee scoring 26 points and shooting 69 percent from the field but received no help from anyone else. Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon spoke on the struggles of getting their star involved and how it affected their game.
“We have to get him in his spots. He likes coming down the court in the trail spot when he has momentum behind him moving towards the basket. We didn’t do that tonight and it showed.”
Thad Young played the most important role of the game by not only being the “Giannis Stopper,” but he also was the leading scorer for the Pacers with 25 points along with his 11 rebounds. Getting Antetokounmpo into early foul trouble contributed to Young’s success on both ends of the floor making the Greek Freak timid on both ends.
“We played great team defense tonight,” said Young. “My teammates were in gaps and everytime I made him spin they jumped in front of him. He’s a tough guy to guard, especially in transition, he has me tired right now. At the end of the day it’s just about believing in the system.”
Up next for the Indiana Pacers is a Friday night game against the Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers in Philly in a game that will determine the current third seed in the Eastern Conference.