Different circumstances, same result: Even with Antetokounmpo playing, the Pacers will find a way

Indiana in seven. Take it to the bank.

It’s very different this time between the Pacers and the Bucks. The result will be the same – except the Pacers will win the series in seven games rather than six, as they did last year – but the journey through the first-round series will look and feel different.

“We’re not the Cinderella story this time,” said Myles Turner.

A year ago, they were an inexperienced playoff team (except for Pascal Siakam), they didn’t know what they didn’t know, and after playing terribly in Game 1 in Milwaukee, they pulled themselves together and won four of the next five. It was all new and different and ultimately revealing, the Pacers getting great performances from Siakam early, some clutch shot making from Tyrese Haliburton and a marvelous series from Myles Turner, who averaged 19.2 points per game in last year’s match-up.

“Last year we were just satisfied with being in the playoffs,” Haliburton said. “Everything from there was kind of playing with house money, to be honest with you. This year I think we have real expectations to do something special as a group, and when I say something special, I mean a championship. That’s definitely an expectation we’ve had since the start of the year. That doesn’t change.”