Bucks fall to Pacers, enter All-Star break with 46-8 record

INDIANAPOLIS — T.J. Warren scored 35 points and Malcolm Brogdon added 17 points and tied a career high with 13 assists, helping the Indiana Pacers hold on for a 118-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night.

The victory sent Indiana into the All-Star break with some momentum after beating the league’s best team to end a season-worst seven-game losing streak. The Pacers also had lost five straight home games.

Donte DiVincenzo led the Bucks with 19 points and Khris Middleton added 17 as reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo missed his second straight game following the birth of his first child. Milwaukee’s five-game winning streak also ended.

The Bucks trailed by as much as 25 in the first half and were still down 73-52 midway through the third.

Then they went on a 16-5 run to get within 11 at 82-71 after three quarters, opened the fourth with six straight points and cut the deficit to 90-86 on Eric Bledsoe’s layup with 8:18 to play.

But Jeremy Lamb and Warren made consecutive 3s to spur the decisive run that allowed the Pacers to rebuild a 100-86 lead.

Milwaukee didn’t get closer than seven again.

TIP-INS

Bucks: The loss ended Milwaukee’s seven-game winning streak on the road and the Bucks’ perfect record against Central Division foes this season at 11-0. … The Bucks fell to 5-1 in games Antetokounmpo has missed this season. … George Hill (strained left hamstring) and Kyle Korver (sore back) also missed the game. … Bledsoe had 15 points, Sterling Brown had 14, while Ersan Ilyasova and Brook Lopez each finished with 12. … DiVincenzo and Brown each had eight rebounds. … The Bucks have scored at least 100 points in 78 consecutive games, tied for the sixth-longest streak in NBA history.

Pacers: First-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis had 15 points and eight rebounds, while Myles Turner had 14 points and 10 rebounds. … Jeremy Lamb and Victor Oladipo each scored 13 points, and Warren had four steals. … After scoring 68 points in the first half, the Pacers went 6 of 24 from the field in the third quarter. … Indiana snapped a four-game losing streak in the series with Milwaukee, winning for the first time in three tries this season.

OLADIPO UPDATE

Oladipo came into the game averaging 10.8 points, shooting 29.5% from the field and 23.1% on 3s.

Unexpected? Not really.

But coach Nate McMillan said the Pacers will use the All-Star break to contemplate how best to use Oladipo when Indiana returns to action.

“We’ve already made one adjustment when he went from coming off the bench to starting,” McMillan said. “We’ll look at how he’s playing, how he’s feeling and figure out if we need to adjust his role after the break.”

Oladipo went 5 of 7 from the field and 1 of 2 on 3s on Wednesday.

“He’s been out more than a year. You can’t expect him to be the Victor of old in two weeks,” McMillan said.

UP NEXT

Bucks: return from the All-Star break Feb. 20 at Detroit.

Pacers: visit New York on Feb. 21, following the All-Star break.