Milwaukee Bucks vs Indiana Pacers Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 20/04/2024, 01:40  by Kennedy Kechula in NBA Predictions

The Milwaukee Bucks will host the Indiana Pacers in Game One of the two teams’ first-round tie of the 2023/24 NBA playoffs. The Bucks finished third in the regular season in the Eastern Conference with the Pacers coming in sixth. The Bucks finished the regular season abysmally and will hope to have put all that behind them. They won just two of their final eight games and are on a two-game skid. Milwaukee also struggled against the Pacers and lost four times in five meetings. Their only victory was an incident-filled 140-126 victory at home. Giannis Antentokounmpo scored a franchise-record 64 points in that win but he is likely to miss game one. The forward missed the Bucks’ last three matches of the regular season with a calf issue. AJ Green also missed the conclusion of the regular season with an injury and could also be sidelined for this game. The Bucks averaged 119.0 points in the regular season and allowed 116.4 points.

The Indiana Pacers will arrive for this game fully confident of winning this game and this series. Their dominance of the Bucks and with Giannis expected to miss out gives them a huge advantage. Rick Carlisle’s men are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2020. They finished sixth in the regular season with a 47-35 record just two games behind the Bucks. Indiana had a strong finish to the regular season and won six of their final eight matches. In their final game, the Pacers scored a whopping 157 points in a 42-point blowout of the Hawks. It was the third time in the season that they had scored at least 150 points against the Hawks. The Pacers finished the regular season as the number-one ranked team in offence, averaging 123.3 points a night. On the other end however is where their problems lie and they were giving up an almost similar number of points. The Pacers will be without Benedict Matahurin probably for the entire playoffs due to injury.