We’ve reached the point of domination, of inevitability, the point in this 2025 NBA Eastern Conference playoff series where Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton is grabbing a defensive rebound and laughing at the Milwaukee player, Gary Trent Jr., who missed the shot. We’ve reached the point where Pacers center Myles Turner is blocking Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo on back-to-back possessions in the first half and then dunking on Antetokounmpo on the first play of the second half — and roaring with satisfaction before he lands.
We’ve reached the point where the Pacers have clearly separated themselves from Milwaukee, blowing out the Bucks 129-103 Sunday night in Game 4 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee to take a 3-1 lead as the series returns to Indianapolis. Game 5 is Tuesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the building will be full and the Milwaukee roster will not. Bucks guard Dame Lillard suffered a serious injury in the first quarter of Game 4, reportedly an Achilles issue that will end his season, and perhaps cause him to miss next season as well.
The Pacers, who led 15-12 when Lillard suffered the injury, went on an immediate 8-1 run to open a 23-13 lead. The Bucks got no closer than five the rest of the way, and only for a few seconds, but Lillard’s absence wasn’t Milwaukee’s problem.
The Pacers are Milwaukee’s problem.
Indiana is just better, and not merely because the Pacers have opened a 3-1 series lead — but the way they’ve done it. The Pacers have led all four games by double figures in the first half, and Sunday night was the third time the Pacers led by 10 before the first quarter was finished.
This game was the most thorough victory of the bunch, with the Pacers shooting 60.2% from the floor (50-for-83) and 46.2% on 3-pointers (18-for-39) and outrebounding the bigger Bucks 50-40 and posting 36 assists against 11 turnovers.
The Pacers entered Sunday with a 2-1 series edge, but Game 4 was about asserting their dominance.
And not just on the scoreboard.
Pacers, Bucks don’t get along
These teams don’t like each other. Any fool can see that, and if we couldn’t, we’ve got Tyrese Haliburton telling us as much.
“They don’t like us,” he’d said earlier in the series. “We don’t like them.”
At times it gets out of hand, mainly when Bobby Portis and Kevin Porter Jr. of Milwaukee are acting out. But the Pacers have not exactly risen above the nonsense coming from the Bucks, and maybe that’s OK. Maybe the Bucks deserve moments like this, when Gary Trent Jr. stole an Andrew Nembhard pass and sailed down the court for a contested layup against Nembhard and Haliburton, and missed badly — after which Haliburton grabbed the rebound and headed the other way, LOL.
Sorry, that’s not me trying to use the cool kids’ lingo. Haliburton was dribbling the other way, and he was literally laughing out loud.
There were other moments of pure domination too, most of them fueled by Myles Turner, who — like Haliburton — disappeared in Game 3 but made amends, and then some, in Game 4. Turner was dominant at both ends, scoring 23 points and blocking four shots and scaring Giannis into his worst shooting half of the series.
Yeah, he did. Let me show you:
It started midway through the second quarter, when Giannis spun to the rim and was met there by Turner, who swatted the shot away. Next time down the court, Giannis attacks the rim again — attacks Myles Turner again — and Turner grabs the ball with both hands before Giannis can even get the shot above his head.
Minutes later Giannis is at the rim, defended by Turner, and now he’s not attacking. This is more of a fade-away from 5 feet, a surrender of a shot, and he misses badly. Next touch, Giannis is defended by Pascal Siakam but is so discombobulated, so out of his element, that he misses wide right from 16 feet. Doesn’t hit the rim at all, but not because it was too short or too long.
Wide right, from 16 feet.
Ever seen an MVP miss a shot so badly?
Ever seen one dominated so thoroughly? That’s what Turner did to Giannis, who was 3-for-10 in the first half but rallied nicely in the third quarter, doing much of his damage when Turner was off the court. By then Turner had already started the third quarter by getting the ball in transition from Haliburton — here comes one of Haliburton’s 15 assists — and taking one dribble before rearing back with the ball and dunking it all over Giannis. Turner was celebrating, loudly, as he descended back to earth.
“The defensive end,” Haliburton was saying afterward, describing where this game was won. “Myles was amazing at the rim. The ricochets of his blocks … we were able to get out and run. And us in transition, we feel we’re the best in the world at that.”
Pacers: Better, classier than Bucks
The Bucks were without Dame Lillard for the final 42 minutes, yes, but the Pacers played the whole game without Bennedict Mathurin (abdominal contusion) — and Mathurin has been having a better series. So let’s not talk about missing players here, or full strength there. It was an excuse last year, and a legitimate one for Milwaukee, when the Pacers eliminated the Bucks in Round 1.
Won’t be an excuse this time around.
The Pacers are better at shooting, passing and defending. The only advantage the Bucks have is of the extra-curricular variety — they’re better at turning this beautiful game into something ugly — but the Pacers aren’t taking the bait. The Pacers have largely held their composure this series despite the goonish antics of Portis and the menacing meanness of Porter and all that garbage spewing from the mouth of Lillard, even when he wasn’t active during Game 1.
The Bucks’ crowd was stoked to a fury for this game — arriving early and waving white “Let’s Go Bucks” rally towels placed on every seat — but the Pacers weren’t playing along. The crowd wanted to boo each Pacers starter individually during pregame warmups, but the Pacers weren’t having it. They ran onto the court, rapid-fire, one after another, as soon as the first name was announced. All five starters were on the court before the P.A. announcer could get to the third starter.
The game was more of the same. The Bucks wanted to get into the Pacers’ heads, wanted again to punk the Pacers, and the Pacers refused to fold. After Aaron Nesmith got tangled with Brook Lopez on a screen and sent the giant Bucks center to the deck, the Bucks’ second-biggest idiot — Porter — started talking. Eventually Nesmith hears enough and starts walking that way, and here come the assistant coaches onto the court to keep the peace. Yes, here comes Jenny Boucek.
A double-technical was assessed, and this is important because the Bucks’ biggest idiot, Portis, tried to get Nesmith thrown out of the game. This was in the third quarter with the Pacers clearly in command, leading 76-65, and Milwaukee’s only hope was to get some players tossed. So there’s Nesmith on his backside, holding onto the ball after being fouled, and Portis comes over and tries to take the ball from him. Well, no, more accurately: Portis bends down and punches at the ball, as it’s in Nesmith’s hands.
If Nesmith reacts and gets a second technical, he’ll be ejected. So Nesmith simply rolls to his side, hides the ball behind his body and makes a face at the nearest official that can be translated like this:
Sigh.
The Pacers were in control of this game in all ways — physically, mentally and emotionally — and the same now can be said of this series. Can anything happen between now and the next round? Theoretically, sure. Giannis could score 50 on Tuesday to spark a Bucks win in Game 5. The series could return to Milwaukee for Game 6, the Pacers could feel the pressure, and the Bucks could win again. Now we’re down to a Game 7 in Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Theoretically.
But that would be unexpected, bordering on unfair, because one team is clearly better. One team is clearly classier, too — and it’s the same team. This series should end Tuesday night, because ball don’t lie. The Pacers deserve the victory, and the Bucks deserve the elimination.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.
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