To say that the last meeting between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers back on December 14 was a heated encounter would be an understatement. The two teams nearly came to blows after the Pacers decided to take the game ball following Giannis Antetokounmpo’s career night.
In the end, however, Giannis didn’t actually want the ball. This is despite the fact that he charged the Pacers locker room after learning that they tried to take the ball away after the final buzzer.
MILWAUKEE — A red-faced TJ McConnell screamed at his bench late on Monday night, and every single Indiana Pacers coach and player roared back in appreciation. The veteran point guard had just clinched a huge 122-113 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, the latest entry in a budding rivalry between the Central division foes, in a way only he could: chasing down a loose ball that everyone else had given up on.
“That’s one of the best hustle plays I’ve seen all year,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “Because that’s where the action was with the whistle, a lot of people missed the save that [Bennedict] Mathurin made on Tyrese’s outlet over a couple guys on a double team. Benn made an amazing save, and then TJ, I don’t know how he got to the ball. To save it and draw the foul, absolutely enormous play.
