Pacers at Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks have topped 100 points once in the past three weeks. The Indiana Pacers put up 124 in a win on Monday.
The Bucks will be looking to slow the Pacers while figuring out a way to put the ball in the basket themselves when the teams meet Wednesday at Milwaukee.
The lowest scoring team in the league at 90.9 points per game, 2.7 below the 29th place New Jersey Nets, the Bucks have reached the century mark just five times this season and have hit 90 three times in the last nine contests.
Since reaching the .500 mark at 5-5 on November 15, Milwaukee has dropped eight of 10 and has looked nothing like the team that made an inspiring run to the playoffs last season. Brandon Jennings has not dropped off much since his stellar rookie campaign last season, averaging 18.3 points to lead the team, but the Bucks have not gotten nearly the same production from John Salmons and have been hurt by Carlos Delfino missing 13 games and Andrew Bogut sitting out for six.
Salmons, who earned a contract extension over the summer after pouring in nearly 20 points a game for Milwaukee in the second half of last season, is down to 12.4 in 2010-11 and managed just seven points of 2-of-11 shooting in Monday’s 88-78 loss to the Miami Heat.
The Bucks shot just 34.6 percent as a team in the setback, getting 20 points from Corey Maggette off the bench while the starters combined for 45.
It won’t get any easier over the next two weeks, as Milwaukee faces seven straight Western Conference opponents after Indiana, including road dates at Dallas, San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Pacers are capable of scoring points in bunches, having put up 144 in a game last month and coming off a 124-100 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Monday. Seven players reached double figures against the Raptors, led by a season-high 26 from Brandon Rush.
One of the more pleasant surprises of the first two months, Indiana’s rebuilding effort appears to finally be bearing fruit, particularly in regards to Rush, point guard Darren Collison and center Roy Hibbert, who has seven double-doubles already this season after putting up 10 all of last year.
With the Chicago Bulls not yet running away with the Central Division, the Pacers have a chance to compete not just for a playoff spot but for the division title.
Milwaukee won the first meeting between the teams 94-90 on Nov. 5, holding Indiana to 30 second-half points in the contest as Salmons scored 22.