MILWAUKEE — After collecting the rebound off a Kyle Kuzma miss at the rim, Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner passed the ball to point guard Tyrese Haliburton and ran toward the opposite end of the court.
Just 20 seconds into the second half, Haliburton quickly passed back to Turner at the top of the wing. Turner dribbled the ball once and then hammered it over Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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It was the statement the Pacers needed right out of the gate in Game 4 to shake off the stench of their third-quarter collapse the previous game.
“That dunk definitely set the tone for the second half,” Pacers forward Obi Toppin said. “He came out here and ran through one of their best guys to dunk the ball. Obviously, that got everybody on the bench. I don’t know if y’all got the reaction to that, but everybody on the bench was going crazy. That was just the juice that filled us.”
MYLES TURNER POSTER INCOMING 😳 pic.twitter.com/V3rkvAWLZg
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) April 28, 2025
In Game 3, the third quarter belonged to the Bucks. Indiana’s offense was stagnant, and Milwaukee dominated the period 39-18. The Pacers’ lack of defensive execution and repeatedly being a step too late on rotations helped the Bucks take control of that game. The Pacers weren’t letting history repeat itself.
Indiana took an early lead in Game 4, getting out to a 13-7 start. Turner, who struggled in Game 3 and made just one field goal and none of his six 3-point attempts, was responsible for nine of the Pacers’ first 19 points, making his first four shots and finishing 9 of 13 from the field.
“That’s just the power of moving the ball,” Turner said. “After watching the film on the third quarter last game, I think that we didn’t necessarily take bad shots, but this wasn’t our brand of basketball. I think that we did an amazing job of moving the ball tonight. When the ball hums like that, great things happen for us.”
Two nights after blowing a 10-point halftime lead in a 117-101 loss at Milwaukee, the Pacers are on the verge of ending the Bucks’ season for a second straight year. There was no surrendering the lead.
In the third quarter, the Bucks closed the lead to nine, but Indiana returned to the team it was in the first two games of the series.
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“I just thought the team functioned so much better tonight, just in terms of our ball movement, our cutting, our passing and those guys created problems,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “And Myles was in prime position to take advantage in a lot of the situations early and defensively. We were more locked in tonight.”
In Game 4, Indiana shot 60.2 percent from the floor and 46.2 percent from behind the arc, with 43 points coming from the bench. Eight Pacers scored in double figures, making them the second team since 2000 to have eight or more players in double figures in a playoff game.
“We’re the kind of team that needs a lot of heroes,” Carlisle said. “That’s why we’re built on depth. We’re built on camaraderie, a connected spirit. We were more connected tonight.”
Turner scored a team-high 23 points. Andrew Nembhard contributed 20. Haliburton, after a disappointing Game 3, had 17 points and a playoff career-high 15 assists. T.J. McConnell scored 15 points, Aaron Nesmith chipped in 14 and Toppin had 13. Pascal Siakam and Jarace Walker added 12 points each. It was the third time in the series that six or more Pacers scored in double figures. Indiana won all three of those games.
While containing Antetokounmpo is an impossible task, the Pacers held the Bucks star to 3-of-10 shooting for eight points in the first half by sending a crowd and forcing him into bad shots. Antetokounmpo finished with 28 points, his lowest point total in the series so far.
“We keep trying to make it hard,” Carlisle said. “He scores at the rim. We got to get it in quick and make him run. We’re a team that’s gotta play fast, gotta play with persistence. And we gotta try to wear down the opponent as best we can.”
For much of the game, Milwaukee was without star Damian Lillard, who went down with a non-contact injury and needed help walking off the court with 6 minutes 11 seconds left in the first quarter.
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“You hate to see that happen, especially to a guy who’s went through a lot and he’s given it his all to come out here and play after the scary health, scary health issue,” Haliburton said. “It’s well-documented, the love I have for that guy, and so you hate to see that happen to anybody. I wish him the best moving forward.”
The Pacers return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Game 5 Tuesday night with a 3-1 lead and an opportunity to close out the first-round series.
“We need our crowd to be the loudest it’s been all year,” Carlisle said. “Elimination games are always the most difficult. We’ve heard that cliché many, many, many times, probably too many, but that’s how it’s going to be. And we got to be ready.”
(Photo of Myles Turner and Brook Lopez: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
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