Pascal Siakam recorded 37 points, 11 rebounds and six assists and the Indiana Pacers evened their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series with an impressive 125-108 victory over the host Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night in Game 2.
Myles Turner added 22 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots for the sixth-seeded Pacers, who snapped a 10-game postseason losing streak dating back to 2018.
Andrew Nembhard scored 20 points, Tyrese Haliburton registered 12 points and 12 assists and Aaron Nesmith had 11 points and seven assists for Indiana, which had 38 assists on 50 made baskets.
Damian Lillard scored 34 points and Brook Lopez added 22 for the third-seeded Bucks. Both players made six 3-pointers.
Milwaukee was again without star Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf).
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Friday at Indianapolis.
Siakam, who made 16 of 23 shots, established a personal playoff scoring mark for a second straight game. He had 36 points in Game 1.
Khris Middleton added 15 points and six assists and Bobby Portis had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Milwaukee, which shot 44.2 percent from the field, including 13 of 32 (40.6 percent) from 3-point range.
The Pacers made 55.6 percent of their attempts and were 16 of 36 (44.4 percent) from behind the arc.
Milwaukee scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to move within 92-88 on Pat Connaughton’s three-point play with 11:17 left in the game.
Indiana answered with eight straight points and 23 of the next 27 to rock the Bucks and open up a 23-point lead.
Siakam scored back-to-back baskets to make it 100-88 with 9:19 remaining.
A short time later, Turner scored five consecutive points to start a stretch of 13 straight Indiana points. Siakam added a layup and Turner and Haliburton drained treys to make it 115-92 with 5:55 left, and the Pacers cruised the rest of the way.
Indiana led by five points at the halftime and quickly pushed the lead to 69-58 on Nesmith’s 3-pointer with 9:45 left in the third quarter.
The Bucks later scored eight in a row to pull within 79-78 on Lillard’s basket with 3:58 remaining. The Pacers countered with a quarter-ending, 13-5 run with Siakam’s basket with 22.1 seconds left accounting for a 92-83 advantage entering the final stanza.
Siakam scored 21 first-half points to lead the Pacers to a 60-55 advantage at the break.
Lillard made six treys and scored 26 in the half for the Bucks. Lillard scored all 35 of his Game 1 points during the first half of Milwaukee’s victory.
