The Bucks wasted an all-time clutch performance from Khris Middleton, and the performances of these 3 have to be better moving forward.

The Milwaukee Bucks expected nothing than a dogfight from the Indiana Pacers in Game 3. The Pacers fanbase loves basketball, and they were sure to do everything in their power to lift the home team to a victory that would give them a 2-1 lead in the series. But for much of the night, the Bucks had punch after counterpunch to the Pacers even after they went down by 17 points in the first quarter. Alas, they did not have enough, as the Pacers escaped with a 121-118 Game 3 victory.

Khris Middleton had the game of his playoff life; after suffering through two injury-riddled postseasons, Middleton looked healthier than ever on Friday night. He put up 42 points, and he saved the Bucks from defeat two separate times — a tough leaner from deep in regulation and a bank shot from the top of the key, both of which tied the game with mere seconds left in the game.

Alas, the Bucks, despite putting up an admirable effort amid adversity and amid Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence, ended up shooting themselves on the foot on multiple occasions. Middleton’s heroic performance went to waste, and these players have to bear responsibility for letting a very winnable game slip from their fingertips.

Damian Lillard doesn’t appear in Dame Time

The Bucks brought Damian Lillard in because Lillard almost always ups his game in the playoffs. In Game 1, the Bucks had a taste of what kind of basketball Lillard plays under the postseason’s bright lights. Lillard put up 35 points, and it seemed like the Bucks’ trust in him was vindicated in a big way.

Lillard proceeded to follow his stellar Game 1 with another strong night in Game 2. Despite the Bucks’ 125-108 loss, Lillard went off for 34, once again proving that he is a legitimate playoff riser.

In Game 3, Damian Lillard and the Bucks found themselves on the backfoot early. Lillard struggled with his shot all throughout the game; he went 2-10 in the first half en route to finishing with a 6-20 night from the field. He made some big shots in the fourth quarter, including two threes, but when Khris Middleton and the Bucks needed him in overtime, he was unable to come up huge.

Lillard went scoreless in the extra period, and he looked winded after shouldering a 45-minute, high-burden workload all throughout the night. Not helping matters at all is the fact that Lillard is playing through an Achilles injury, as per Bucks head coach Doc Rivers, and it clearly relegated him to a decoy role come crunch time.

Nonetheless, with Giannis Antetokounmpo out, Lillard needed to reach the heights of his Game 1 or 2 performance, and the Bucks might have won. After all, they got an epic performance from Khris Middleton. Lillard bears responsibility for this defeat seeing as he didn’t play at his best when his best would have been enough to lead the Bucks to victory lane over the Pacers.

Brook Lopez: invisible on the boards

Brook Lopez does plenty of good things on the court for the Bucks. He spaces the floor, he is a post-up brute when he gets the ball near the hoop, and he is able to protect the rim with the best of them. What Lopez isn’t is a good rebounder. Throughout his career, this has been his glaring weakness, and the Bucks paid dearly for it on Friday night.

The Pacers grabbed eight more offensive boards than the Bucks did, outrebounding them by a total of seven on the night, and it was due to Indiana’s gang rebounding. Lopez is one of the best boxout artists in the association, but given the Pacers’ relentlessness on the glass, the Bucks needed him to actually grab more boards and use every inch of his 7’0 frame in doing so.

This simply may not be the series for Brook Lopez. The Pacers excel in transition, and they love spacing the floor. The Pacers’ frontcourt has been miles better than the Bucks’ thus far in the series, with Pascal Siakam being an unstoppable force in the first two games and Myles Turner stepping up in Game 3. Lopez’s struggles to defend in space haven’t helped an ailing Bucks defense at all.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the ideal frontcourt partner for Lopez. Hopefully for the Bucks, Antetokounmpo returns to full health soon and prevents them from falling into an even deeper hole — especially when their problems against the Pacers may have something to do with their lack of personnel that’s capable of dealing with Indiana’s explosive offense.

Bucks have to get more from Patrick Beverley

Patrick Beverley was acquired midseason from the Philadelphia 76ers to give the Bucks an infusion of energy, defense, and rebounding. The Bucks even elevated Beverley into the starting lineup over Malik Beasley just to give the team a greater edge. But Beverley, for all the intangibles he provides, did not provide the tangibles the Bucks needed in a very winnable Game 3.

Beverley, who is a proud fighter on the glass, was nowhere to be found when the Pacers were attacking the boards with a fury. He ended the game with two rebounds, and that is simply unacceptable for someone the Bucks are expecting to nail the little things that contribute to winning.

Meanwhile, Patrick Beverley was overly aggressive in the final play that doomed the Bucks. He was overplaying Tyrese Haliburton, who, at that point, was shooting a horrific 2-12 from beyond the arc. Sure, Haliburton was due for a make from deep, but in a tie game, the last thing any defense would want is to allow dribble penetration. That is exactly what the Bucks did, and as a result, Haliburton nailed an and-one floater to essentially put the game to bed.

It was too much to ask of Khris Middleton to make another game-tying shot in the dying embers, but it should not have reached that point had Beverley been more on point with his defensive work. Beverley has to be better at the role he’s playing, especially when he isn’t much of a shot creator, a slasher, or a playmaker. He has plenty of playoff experience and he has to be held at a higher standard, especially for how much he jaws at the opposition.