Milwaukee, WI
In taking four out of five from the Bucks, the Pacers have reasserted themselves
INDIANAPOLIS — When it was over, after three more technical fouls and some overall chippy-ness, the two sides parted amicably.
Even the central figure of the game-ball related fracas after Milwaukee’s win on Dec. 13 — Giannis Antetokounmpo — lingered after Indiana’s 142-130 win over the Bucks on Wednesday to shake hands with several Pacers. Those notably included James Johnson Jr., the revered veteran who played for the Pacers last season but didn’t have a team this year until Indiana scooped him up on Dec. 14, the day after Antetokounmpo ran into the tunnel heading to the Pacers’ locker room to try to get what he thought was the ball he’d just just used to score a Bucks franchise-record 64 points.
The internet presumption — which the Pacers immediately tried to snuff out by noting that they’d been in touch with Johnson for weeks since a lunch near his home in Miami — was that Indiana had signed the karate black belt as an enforcer just in case the 6-11, 250-pound two-time MVP Antetokounmpo tried to start something else. But after the fifth and final regular season game their two teams will play against each other this season, they shook hands, and embraced. Johnson answered a covered-mouth question from Antetokounmpo — the Bally Sports Indiana broadcast picked up Johnson saying the words “I was already on my way” — and lovingly pounded his fist on Antetokounmpo’s chest before the two smiled, laughed and walked away in separate directions.
There were ways in which it felt like two teams parting ways at the end of an epic playoff series as they at least individually implied to each other that after all the nastiness of a grueling series there would be no hard feelings. The Pacers and Bucks had been through a lot together in what in regular-season terms is a very short amount of time. The Central Division foes played each other five times — something that is newly possible because of the inaugural In-Season Tournament in which they met on a neutral floor in the semifinals in Las Vegas — since Nov. 9 with the last two coming Monday in Milwaukee and Wednesday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. And now, they won’t meet again this season unless and until they draw each other in the playoffs, which begin in mid-April.
“In the history of this league there’s never been a series like this one because there was no In-Season Tournament thrown in the middle of it in a neutral venue with stage lighting,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s so different out there.”
Its therefore notable, of course, that if the series had been a playoff, the Pacers would be the ones moving on to the next round.
They took four of the five meetings — both home games, one of the two road games, and the neutral-site game that allowed them to advance to the IST Finals –against a Milwaukee team that has established itself as one of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference along with Boston and Philadelphia. After the highly-motivated Bucks claimed what would be considered Game 3 in emotionally-charged Fiserv Forum, the Pacers put together two very strong performances to start the new year, claiming two victories by a combined 21 points. At 24-10, the Bucks still sit in second place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game above the 76ers and 2 1/2 back of the Celtics. However the Pacers can claim responsibility for 40% of Milwaukee’s losses on the year.
It’s only one team, but resoundingly winning a historically-long season series against an NBA title contender less than three years removed from its last championship is a mark of franchise progress. Starting March 4, 2020, the Bucks beat the Pacers 10 straight times. Milwaukee won 16 of 19 games from the 2018-19 season through last year’s 2022-23 campaign.
But on Wednesday, the Bucks had to acknowledge they’d been handled over the course of this season by a Pacers team that hasn’t been part of a playoff series since the bubble in 2020. Going back to last season, the Pacers have won five of the last seven meetings.
“They played hard, played more physical, they executed better,” Antetokounmpo said. “They’re making shots, they’re playing together, they’re playing fast, they’re crashing the boards. They’re guarding, they’re loading, they’re double-teaming and they’re rebounding the ball. That’s how they were able to win four times this season.”
The Pacers previous three wins prior to Wednesday’s were all to some extent nailbiters. They trailed in the Nov. 9 game until the 1:29 mark of the fourth quarter and won by two. They gave up 43 points in the third quarter of the Las Vegas game on Dec.7 and were clinging to a one-point lead with less than three minutes to go. On Monday they faced multiple 15-point deficits and let the Bucks get within four with 1:34 left.
But on Wednesday they blew the doors open with a 47-point third quarter that put them up by double digits for the entire fourth quarter. They made the Bucks look old, slow and tired, unable and unwilling to try to run with the speediest and most efficient offense in the league and also unable to physically punish them for their speed.
The Pacers were everything they hope to be. They were almost perfectly balanced from a scoring perspective. All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton put up the biggest numbers as per usual with 31 point and 12 assists, but six others scored in double figures while two more finished with nine. Haliburton was the only player who scored more than 16 points and he was one of just two who took more than nine field goal attempts.
The starters outside of Haliburton were 20 of 28 from the floor. The bench scored 59 points. They scored 64 points in the paint and 21 on fast-breaks. They even managed to win the rebounding battle 44-42 and draw more fouls (27) than they committed (25), going to the line 34 times to the Bucks’ 32.
They posted 1.30 points per possession on offense and held the Bucks — the third-most efficient offense in the NBA behind the Pacers and Celtics — just below their average at 1.19 points per possession. It was the sort of performance where success on one end begets success on the other that they’ve been looking for all year.
“I would just say we did a good job of digging down and getting stops when needed,” Haliburton said. “We did a good job of showing our hands and not fouling. … We kept showing our hands, making them finish over us, gang-rebounding. I thought we did a great job on the glass. That allows us to run. Like we’ve talked about, when we play in transition we’re a really tough team to beat, and I thought we did that tonight better than we have against these guys probably all year.”
The Pacers proved they could apply lessons learned and change and execute strategy in the course of a series. Carlisle decided to incorporate a three-man wall scheme against Antetokounmpo in Monday and Wednesday’s games holding him to 30 and 26 points respectively after he’d scored 54, 37 and 64 in the first three. They also showed they could keep focused on tasks at hand after the third game got emotional in a way that drew national attention.
“These are games I sort of mark on my calendar just being locked in for,” center Isaiah Jackson said. “We know guys are going to come in and try to push us around and be chippy and stuff. I think us coming in with that same mindset showed a lot about our team and what we can bring to the table as far as toughness is concerned.”
These last two wins in particular have helped the Pacers re-assert themselves as a rising force in the Eastern Conference. After their run to the In-Season Tournament Final gave them some early-season Cinderella-like shine, they followed their loss to the Lakers (that didn’t count toward the regular season standings) with losses in six of their next seven games. But they have now won five straight games since Christmas with the wins over the Bucks as well as a win Saturday over the Knicks giving some legitimacy to the streak.
A lineup shift that moved Jalen Smith from the center position to power forward and put wing Aaron Nesmith in the starting lineup added size and defensive grit, which helped, but so did finding some level of solid ground. The Las Vegas trip turned a seven-day road trip into a 12-day one in which the Pacers played games in three time zones. They returned home to play four more games in seven days. Three were at home, but two were part of a home-road back-to-back against Charlotte at home on Dec. 20 and Memphis on the road on Dec. 21.
“To have that bump in the middle of the year was such a high when you’re playing in front of so many fans,” Haliburton said. “Then you’re on the road, and it felt like we were on the road forever. Not an excuse at all, but guys were tired. It’s been good to have these home stands and Christmas, be around your family more. Just to get our legs back under us and get back going.”
Now at 19-14 they find themselves in a tier that seems to fit their overall trajectory. After Miami’s win over the Lakers, they wake up Thursday morning in fifth place in the East a half-game back of the Heat (20-14) for fourth. They’re four games back of the third-place 76ers and part of a five-team pack between fourth and eighth that also includes the Magic, Cavaliers and Knicks who are all 19-15. Those teams are gaining some separation from the 15-20 Nets and 14-19 Bulls at ninth and 10th.
Staying with Miami, Orlando, Cleveland and New York bodes well for Pacers’ basic goal for 2023-24, which is to return to the playoffs, either by earning a top-six seed or through the play-in round. And if they can take four out of five from a powerhouse like the Bucks, even if it’s not in a playoff-scenario, they have reason to dream bigger.
Manawa director of public works speaks briefly about July 5 flooding
Josh Smith, city of Manawa’s director of Public Works and fire chief for the Manawa Rural Fire Department speaks briefly about flood waters in Manawa, Wisconsin on July 5, 2024.
Continuing a rainy summer, more showers and thunderstorms will move into the Milwaukee area early this week — though no severe weather is expected.
On Sunday, showers and storms are possible further west, and some weak storms might move through later tonight.
Both Monday and Tuesday “looks like fairly scattered activity,” National Weather Service meteorologist Denny VanCleve said. Showers and storms could happen at any point during the day Monday.
Tuesday looks like it could be drier, and any rain or thunder is more likely to happen in the afternoon. More rain is possible on Wednesday and Thursday, but the chances will taper off toward the end of the week.
There “could be a few stronger storms, locally heavy rainfall. But right now, it looks like we don’t have quite the setup for severe weather,” VanCleve said. “Just kind of general daytime thunderstorms that we can often see during a summer day.”
Will Hurricane Beryl impact Wisconsin?
Meteorologists are also tracking the path of Tropical Storm Beryl, which is expected to reach the Texas coast as a hurricane early Monday. The path of impacted areas could include part of southeast Wisconsin, but main areas expected to see higher moisture are central Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and lower Michigan, VanCleve said.
“Whoever does have this come through will probably see good rainfall amounts,” he said, likely around the middle of the week. “We can expect places to probably see at least a couple of inches of rainfall along the higher swath.”
Wisconsin has been hammered by rainfall this summer, causing flooding in some areas. A dam did not fail in the city of Manawa this weekend, but earth on the sides of the dam became eroded enough to give way to the waters behind the dam. The city received about four inches of rain.
More: What we know about the flooding in Manawa in Waupaca County
This summer “has certainly been on the wetter end,” VanCleve said. “If you look back a year ago, all of Wisconsin was in drought, and parts of southern Wisconsin were in severe drought. And now a year later, we’ve got no areas in Wisconsin are in drought.”
More: Wisconsin is finally drought-free after a year. Here’s what that means for the state.
LOS ANGELES – Too soon to panic, Dodger fans?
It’s probably fair to suggest that the past week, when the Dodgers were 3-4, lost two games off an 8½-game division lead and had their starting pitchers compile a 9.00 ERA in those seven games, represented a short sample size in a long season rather than a troubling trend.
Calm down, folks. Crisis averted. For now.
James Paxton made it through five innings Saturday, reinventing himself as he goes. And some late inning thunder and a managerial move that almost backfired but didn’t – we’ll explain – gave the Dodgers a 5-3 win over Milwaukee, the NL Central leader, and cinched their first series win in over a week.
If you’re seeking a reason why spirits have been so down – or at least up and down – among certain segments of the fan base, here’s a hint: The first 12 questions manager Dave Roberts fielded in his pre-game briefing Saturday involved injury updates. Among the revelations: Max Muncy has stopped swinging the bat in his rehab process, because the oblique injury that has kept him out of the Dodgers’ lineup since May 15 just won’t allow him to do so freely.
“Everything he does, turning and rotating, is good except swinging the bat,” Roberts said.
Given that swinging the bat is what Muncy does best, and is not only his best contribution to a Dodgers lineup but creates a giant chasm when he’s not in it, that’s a problem.
Go down the list. Clayton Kershaw has another simulated game lined up Sunday, as he tries to regain momentum after a slight rehab setback of his own. Joe Kelly is getting hitters out for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes but is probably still at least a couple more outings away from returning. MVP candidate Mookie Betts, recovering from a broken left hand, is doing some baseball-type activities but is still a few weeks away – and he, too, can’t swing a bat yet. (But his appearance in the Dodgers’ TV booth Wednesday night suggested he could have a post-career future in the booth if he wants it).
Meanwhile, relievers Brusdar Graterol and Ryan Brasier are still working out at Camelback Ranch, Michael Grove and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are in various stages of their rehabs … and the list goes on. The upshot: A team that still has a healthy division lead also has plenty of needs as the July 30 trading deadline approaches. Clearly, $1.1 billion doesn’t guarantee health.
Layered over all of this is the realization, within the organization as well as among its fan base, that the only achievement that means anything has to come in October.
So on social media, our current bastion of learned discourse, Dodger fans are chill, nobody’s suggesting any outlandish trades and Roberts isn’t getting hammered for his in-game decisions, right?
Right??
Hey, if you allow it to, following baseball can be a nightly nervous breakdown.
To be sure, Roberts gave the wannabe managers more ammunition Saturday. Nursing a 3-2 lead, he used Daniel Hudson in the sixth, Blake Treinen in the seventh and normal closer Evan Phillips in the eighth, guessing that Phillips could handle the middle of the order in that inning and Alex Vesia could pitch the ninth for the save. Roberts had done so at the start of the last road trip against the woeful White Sox and got away with it.
This time, Christian Yelich sent a 2-2 pitch into the net above the kids’ play area in dead center field off Phillips to tie the game 3-3.
But Roberts ultimately got away with it again. Miguel Vargas pinch-hit for Gavin Lux leading off the bottom of the eighth and hit a paint-scraper that just cleared the left field fence to break the tie. Two hitters later Shohei Ohtani left no doubt with his 28th homer of the year, a 430-foot cannon blast (one estimated foot longer than Yelich’s). And Vesia retired the Brewers in order in the ninth, so what could the critics say?
“It was a right, left, right” situation, Roberts said afterward, given that righties William Contreras and Willy Adames bookended the left-handed Yelich. You could make the counter argument that the dominant hitter in the eighth, Yelich, was left-handed, while right-handed Rhys Hoskins – who had already homered in the fourth Saturday, after hitting a grand slam Friday night – was likely due up in the ninth.
“I feel confident with Alex versus either, but I think that for me, just having the righty on Contreras and Adames, I like that,” Roberts said. “And, you know, (Phillips) had count leverage on Yelich (it was 2-2) and left a sweeper middle, middle. But if I had to do it over again, I’d do the same thing.”
Footnote: Vesia struck out Hoskins on a 2-2 slider to start the ninth.
Meanwhile, maybe Paxton provided a sliver of hope by battling his way through five innings and 83 pitches and leaving with a 3-2 lead.
He acknowledged he’s not the same pitcher he was before Tommy John surgery in 2021, and Saturday he was working with a four-seam fastball that topped out at 93.9 mph and averaged 92.8, a couple of ticks below his 93.3 average for the year. He’s thrown mostly four-seamers and knuckle curves this season, with a few changeups and very few cutters (Saturday he threw two). Three years ago he was throwing the cutter nearly 30 percent of the time according to Baseball Savant; this year, less than four percent.
“I think I’m just evolving as a pitcher,” he said. “You know, my stuff isn’t what it used to be, but I’m pitching differently, pitching to weak contact, and still trying to give us a chance to win.
“I kind of figure it out as I go.”
That’s sort of the way baseball works in general. In this case, they’ll be figuring it out not only on the field and in the dugout but in the executive suite as July 30 approaches.
Meanwhile, after this series the Dodgers head to Philadelphia to play the team with baseball’s best record. So if your daily mood depends on the previous night’s results, you might want to hold on tight for a while.
jalexander@scng.com
MILWAUKEE — The Juneteenth Cultural Music Series continued for another weekend, this time featuring a performance by Christopher’s Projects.
The band, led by saxophonist Christopher Pipkins, has jammed and performed for fans for over 20 years. Now, they brought their talent to Clinton and Bernice Rose Park to celebrate Juneteenth with the Summer Cultural Music Series.
Fred Collier, entertainment director of the concert series, sat down with TMJ4’s Steve Chamraz and Susan Kim to discuss the festivities.
“It is an extension of Juneteenth,” Collier said in the interview. “That is why we wanted to keep the cultural side of it in the title. Our culture has many different levels, but the music behind it is a story in itself.”
This will be the third year the music series has run in Milwaukee. The first performance on June 22 was canceled due to weather but the series continued strong on the second weekend with a performance by Sheryl YoungBlood.
The music series will run every Saturday until August 31 at Clinton and Bernice Rose Park from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Next up on July 13 is Shonn Hinton and Shotgun.
Schedule:
• July 13, 2024 | Shonn Hinton & Shotgun
• July 20, 2024 | Mike Wheeler
• July 27, 2024 | Adi Armour
• August 3, 2024 | Ivan Singh
• August 10, 2024 | New Orleans Beau
• August 17, 2024 | Jamiah Rogers
• August 24, 2024 | Brandye Phillips
• August 31, 2024 | Gospel Edition
Talk to us:
Hey there! At TMJ4 News, we’re all about listening to our audience and tackling the stuff that really matters to you. Got a story idea, tip, or just want to chat about this piece? Hit us up using the form below. For more ways to get in touch, head over to tmj4.com/tips.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip
President Joe Biden to speak in Austin as Republican convention kicks off in Milwaukee
Alabama residents invited to comment on master plan for statewide trail system
Nascar Legend rockets around the track for the Great Alaska Dirt Shootout
Reporter’s Notebook: Unexpected turn for current endorsements in the Arizona Senate race – Washington Examiner
16,000-acre wildfire in Santa Barbara County prompts evacuations near vineyards, Neverland Ranch
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
At least 2 dead as tornadoes hit Alabama, damage homes across Southeast
Biden notes 'world's looking to America' as he faces scrutiny before hosting NATO summit
'Democracy is not in good health,' says Pope Francis
California is trying to lead the way on reparations but not clear on the path to take : Consider This from NPR
Democrats' Senate hopes could hang on split-ticket voting comeback
Photos: 14 killed in Nepal as flooding grips South Asia
-
World1 week agoTension and stand-offs as South Africa struggles to launch coalition gov’t
-
Politics1 week agoFirst 2024 Trump-Biden presidential debate: Top clashes over issues from the border to Ukraine
-
News1 week ago4 killed, 9 injured after vehicle crashes into Long Island nail salon
-
News1 week agoSupreme Court denies Steve Bannon's plea to stay free while he appeals
-
News1 week agoVideo: How Blast Waves Can Injure the Brain
-
Politics1 week agoTrump says 'biggest problem' not Biden's age, 'decline,' but his policies in first appearance since debate
-
News1 week agoIncreasing numbers of voters don’t think Biden should be running after debate with Trump — CBS News poll
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoMovie review: A Quiet Place, quivering since Day One