The Pacers face their biggest test of the In-Season Tournament tonight as they take on the Bucks. As if the Bucks didn't present a big enough challenge on the court, the Pacers face a few momentum killing obstacles that have nothing to do with basketball.

After all the positive press the NBA got during the Pacers-Celtics game ā€“ all the tweets about "playoff atmosphere," "the deafening crowd," "Adam Silver being a genius" ā€“ the NBA decided to bury the follow up game on a neutral site with a 3:00 PM local time tip-off... on a weekday no less. We've seen all year that the Pacers are a vibes oriented team, showing up during the biggest games and losing intensity against the Charlottes and Portland's of the world. They'll need to summon energy from within in an environment that could be eerily reminiscent of the 2020 bubble.

Vibe killer number 2: the Pacers will not be wearing their awesome (and possibly lucky) City Edition uniforms in which they are 5-0, including wins over Milwaukee, Miami, Cleveland, and Boston. Instead they'll wear the cursed Statement Edition uniforms (0-3), which they donned during the loss to the Bulls and the drubbings by Boston and Orlando. Ominous.

Further making this game feel like something from the Twilight Zone is the broadcast situation. Today the TNT and ESPN crews are "crossing over" and working together to cover the game. On one hand it's nice that Reggie gets to call a meaningful Pacers game but on the other I just want this to feel like an important playoff game and not some theoretical science fair presentation. I guess we'll just have to win to make it back to primetime.

With that off my chest, now we can talk about...

Basketball

The Pacers beat Milwaukee almost exactly a month ago for what was their best win of the season at the time. The win was a confidence booster because Milwaukee won the battle of styles but the Pacers persevered regardless. Giannis was an absolutely unstoppable force, barreling toward the rim and converting or drawing a foul (or both) on seemingly every single possession. His efficiency and ability to get to the line slowed down the pace of the game and made it largely a half-court affair.

While the Pacers weren't able to run as much as they would have liked, where they did execute their game plan was in the three point disparity. The Pacers went 20/48 from deep compared to Milwaukee's 9/27. Milwaukee did not have Lillard last time, who has the ability to singlehandedly hit nine threes in a game but if the Pacers want to add another $100K in bonuses and move on to the finals, it's going to imperative that they dominate the three point battle.

Over the past two games, with Jalen Smith out with a knee/heel injury, Carlisle has opted to use Obi Toppin as the back-up center rather than Isaiah Jackson. That strategy may have worked against an Adebayo-less Heat team and a Porzingis-less Celtics, but with Giannis romping inside, it feels like size will matter tonight. The center rotation may simply come down to who has fouls to give, but it's something to monitor as the game goes on.

The other recent tweak Carlisle has made, seemingly to good effect, is how the Pacers defend pick and rolls. Previously in the year, the Pacers were taking a very Ronald Regan, pick yourself up by the bootstraps approach to defense. Every man was more or less responsible for his own assignment. Against Boston, the Pacers started sending help from the corner to "tag" the roll man to prevent an easy shot at the rim, with the guard then "peeling" into the corner to close out on the now open shooter.

Expect the Pacers to continue to employ this strategy in an attempt to make life in the paint much harder on the Bucks than it was in the last matchup, when they shot an astonishing 24/34 at the rim.

Injuries

How to Watch

Tipoff is at 5:00 PM ET.

TV: ESPN

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan

Also if you're local, the Pacers are hosting a few watch parties at various bars.

Let's get it!

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