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The Indiana Pacers had no problem putting the ball in the basket last season against the Milwaukee Bucks, but that was with Danny Granger in the lineup.

They could sure use him there now.

Indiana goes for its first road win in five tries Wednesday night when the Bucks try to avoid a third straight home loss.

Led by Granger's 21.7 points per game, Indiana averaged 116.0 as it swept the three matchups with Milwaukee last season.

However, with Granger yet to play this season due to left patellar tendinitis - he's not expected to return for up to three months - Indiana (3-5) has scored more than 100 points just once and is averaging 88.1 on 40.1 percent shooting.

The Pacers converted a season-low 24 field goals in Tuesday's 74-72 home loss to Toronto, which had a franchise-low five points in the fourth quarter.

Indiana has dropped four of five.

"It was hard for us to put the ball in the hole," said coach Frank Vogel, whose team has shot worse than 40 percent in half of its games. "We've got multiple guys in shooting slumps right now. We're getting a number of open looks at the rim and they're not going down."

The Bucks (4-2) have been having that problem in their last two games in Milwaukee, hitting a combined 39.1 percent of their shots and averaging 91.0 points in a pair of defeats.

Milwaukee, though, returns home following Monday's 105-96 win over Philadelphia. Brandon Jennings finished with a season-best 33 points after missing 10 of 11 shots and scoring four points in Saturday's 96-92 home loss to Boston.

"In the first half, he was just spreading the ball around nicely and getting the guys involved," coach Scott Skiles said of Jennings, who also dished out eight assists. "When it came time for him to score some points, he did that as well."

Jennings averaged a team-high 18.3 points last season against Indiana with 5.7 assists.

Backcourt mate Monta Ellis also had 17 assists in those three contests, yet he totaled only 43 points.

Ellis leads Milwaukee with 20.7 points per game in 2012-13, but he's shooting a career-low 39.3 percent and has hit just 7 of 27 from 3-point range. Getting back on track could be a challenge as Indiana is among the NBA leaders in scoring defense (90.1 points per game) and field goal defense (41.0).

The Pacers are also near the top in rebounds per game with 48.5, led by Paul George (68 total), David West (66) and Roy Hibbert (63).

West and Hibbert led Indiana with 28 boards against Milwaukee in 2011-12.

Bucks forward Larry Sanders, who is grabbing a team-best 9.2 boards per game, had nine off the bench Monday when Milwaukee set season highs for rebounds (48) and rebounding margin (17).

With its first season sweep of Milwaukee since 2006-07, Indiana has now won five straight against Milwaukee after losing the previous six.

The Pacers' last 6-0 run in this series, excluding playoffs, was a seven-game stretch from Nov. 20, 1997-April 21, 1999.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QVxC8SPrAI[/youtube]

The current version of Indy plays a lot like Philly. Slow paced team that wants to play halfcourt, very good halfcourt defense, and a massively struggling offense. One thing Indy does very well is rebound (George, West, Hibbert frontcourt), so if the Bucks are going to instill their type of pace on the game they will really need to fight hard on the glass.

Indy: 29th in O, 5th in D, 28th in pace
Milwaukee: 19th in O, 11th in D, 1st in pace

Thanks for the memory. Larry's a little bit of a hot head at times.

Just checked out my favorite local ticket broker sites and there are some very nice seats available for very cheap. I would definitely be going tonight if that UW/FLA game wasn't on TV. Instead, I'll be wearing out the "last" button on my remote control.

Wow. We're 1st in pace?

I'd sure like to see our ranking on offense go up a bit higher than 19th though.

Definitely going to have to keep the pace up to win this one. The Bucks have looked sluggish at home thus far outside of opening night when there was a good crowd. I'm expecting another weak home crowd and possible lack of energy. I feel this is a team that NEEDS to play with energy or else we'll get killed. That's why that PACE stat is actually important to us. We need to play fast and with volume shooters, at least we're getting tons of shots to make up for the FG%. We've been pretty good on the defensive boards so far, #1 in defensive rebound % so that will be key not to give up second shots against Indiana.

Bucks 96
Pacers 92

Indiana only allowed 5 points to Toronto in the 4thQ last night.......and they still lost.

tski1972 wrote:Indiana only allowed 5 points to Toronto in the 4thQ last night.......and they still lost.

That 4th quarter had to have been ugly to watch...for both teams.

Pacers started Lance Stephenson the last two games at SG, sliding George to SF. They lost last night to the Raptors despite the Raps only scoring 5 POINTS in the 4th quarter, as Calderone got a triple double.

I'd like to see us going to Dalembert early in the game and attack Roy Hibbert to get a foul or two on him right away. Taking him out of the lineup is a game changer. Our guards will have trouble tonight in the paint if he plays big minutes.

JimmyTheKid wrote::lol:

Thanks for the memory. Larry's a little bit of a hot head at times.

Just checked out my favorite local ticket broker sites and there are some very nice seats available for very cheap. I would definitely be going tonight if that UW/FLA game wasn't on TV. Instead, I'll be wearing out the "last" button on my remote control.

I'd imagine a small crowd. If they could only get 14,000 out for a Saturday vs. Boston and under 12,000 last week vs Memphis, I can't imagine getting much more than 11,000 tonight against a weak drawing Pacers team.

Excited to go to this tonight, looking forward to getting that W!

I love our chances in the division with both Granger and Rose down for a while.

Favored by 4. I'm going to say we get a W for Garbs.

EastSideBucksFan wrote:I'd like to see us going to Dalembert early in the game and attack Roy Hibbert to get a foul or two on him right away. Taking him out of the lineup is a game changer. Our guards will have trouble tonight in the paint if he plays big minutes.

Agreed that it'd be ideal to be able to attack Hibbert, but Dalembert isn't particularly good at drawing fouls. It would be sneaky to start Henson and go after him that way, but I'd understand not doing that due to the size disparity on the other end. I'd say give it to Tobes and attack Hibbert indirectly, but George will likely be able to handle him one on one. I don't know what we're left with. Probably best to just play them straight up and try to beat Hibbert up and down the floor. With our big depth, he should be dead tired by the 4th quarter.

David West always kills us so I'd like to see him in check. This is an early statement game for Milwaukee.

For the love of God, Ersan, if your shot is not falling can you please keep West in check? Why are you so weak-minded to the point that you can't play D if you're struggling on offense?

Bogut's injuries are unreal. Between Golden State and Philly I don't know who's more disappointed with their returns. Both gave away the faces of their franchise for a couple of gimps, one of whom can never stay healthy and the other probably facing a more serious injury than any of us realize.

3 year anniversary of Jennings' 55 point game.

Sure would be nice to get the next 3 games. Definitely have some tough games the rest of the month into December.

This is going to be a real interesting match up. Not sure how we handle Hibbert and West.

JimmyTheKid wrote::lol:

Thanks for the memory. Larry's a little bit of a hot head at times.

Just checked out my favorite local ticket broker sites and there are some very nice seats available for very cheap. I would definitely be going tonight if that UW/FLA game wasn't on TV. Instead, I'll be wearing out the "last" button on my remote control.

Do those sites start and end at Stubhub? Or is there another place?

Turd Ferguson wrote:

JimmyTheKid wrote::lol:

Thanks for the memory. Larry's a little bit of a hot head at times.

Just checked out my favorite local ticket broker sites and there are some very nice seats available for very cheap. I would definitely be going tonight if that UW/FLA game wasn't on TV. Instead, I'll be wearing out the "last" button on my remote control.

Do those sites start and end at Stubhub? Or is there another place?

The Ticket King located on Broadway and Mason. I've picked up Bucks and Brewers tickets at their location as late as a couple hours before game time. They don't ever have as big of an inventory as Stubhub, but right now the most expensive ticket for tonight's game is $29. And LOWERS for as low as $12. The later you wait, the less you pay. Its fantastic.

http://www.theticketking.com/ResultsTicket.aspx?evtid=1931866&event=Milwaukee+Bucks+vs.+Indiana+Pacers