For as long as three is greater than two, the Pacers have a dilemma.
Milwaukee offered the latest reminder of that at Bankers Life Fieldhouse Saturday, outscoring the frazzled home team by 21 points from behind the 3-point line. That was more than enough in its 116-100 victory, which handed the Pacers a third consecutive loss.
The Bucks hit 17-of-31 3-point shots and got double-figure scoring efforts from the likes of Thon Maker, Tony Snell, Malcolm Brogdon and Mirza Teletovic, which made the absence of starters Jabari Parker and Khris Middleton seem like not such a big deal after all.
It was supposed to be an evening for good memories, as the teams from the 1990s – which reached the Eastern Conference Finals five times over a seven-year period and provided an endless highlight reel - were honored. Video clips were played throughout the evening, and Donnie Walsh, Larry Bird, Randy Wittman, Travis Best, Dale Davis, Derrick McKey, Rik Smits and Vern Fleming were introduced at halftime to loud ovations. The rest of the evening, however, brought the uncomfortable reality of a team trying to find its way again less than a week after completing a seven-game win streak.
The Pacers shoot 3-pointers at a higher percentage than opponents, but entered the game having hit 100 fewer of them this season. That's 300 points that have to be made up elsewhere, and since they don't get to the foul line as often as opponents, it puts a heavy burden on their two-point scoring.
That's exactly why team president Larry Bird is in the process of transforming the roster into a smaller, more offensive-minded group. The smash-mouth teams of the 1990s, featuring a 7-foot-4 post-up center in Smits and bruising forwards in Dale and Antonio Davis, no longer fit in the NBA, where the likes of the 6-9 Teletovic can run out to the perimeter and hit 5-of-9 3-pointers.
The Pacers were outscored by nine points behind the 3-point arc in Friday's loss at Washington, and by 18 points in Wednesday's loss to Cleveland. That's been the trend in most of their "bad" losses this season, such as the homecourt loss to Phoenix in December, when they were outscored by 24 points on 3-point shots, or the October loss in Brooklyn, when they were outscored by nine points.
The problem isn't finding more long-range shooters as much as its containing the opponents' 3-point shooting. That starts with containing penetrators who get into the foul lane, draw sagging defenders and kick out passes to open shooters.
"Defense starts with you controlling the ball," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "If you can't control the ball, it's going to be long nights for you. Spread the defense out, attack the rim, if they collapse, shoot the three. It's really as simple as that. If you have players that can create those driving lanes with penetration or pick and roll and you don't handle that, teams eat you up with twos and when you're late taking away the paint and you collapse, they can hurt you with threes. It's the game that's played now in our league. It starts with controlling the basketball."
The Pacers didn't do that well enough, nor did they control their own offense. Milwaukee switched positions one through four on all pick-and-rolls, and double-teamed the ballhandlers. One result was that Paul George was held to 13 points, with five of them coming in the final 1:25, after the outcome was settled, and committed five turnovers.
"They switched everything, which (utilizes) their length," George said. "They did a great job of having a game plan against us, knowing how we play offense.
"We haven't seen a team that zones our double teams. It seemed every time I got the ball there was two guys on me. It was a different look, a different feel and we didn't have an answer for it."
Jeff Teague, meanwhile, scored just two points, his only basket coming with 40 seconds remaining. He took just two shots in 32 minutes, one in the third quarter and one in the fourth.
"I can't explain that," McMillan said.
Teague's explanation was that the Pacers tried to attack Milwaukee's switching by getting the ball to players who seemed to have mismatched defenders. George, for example, was often defended by Matthew Dellavedova, who is five inches shorter, but the Bucks' quick double-teams rendered that useless.
"Those were rhythm-breakers, especially if you're not a great ball movement team," George said. "We fell into that trap."
There was more to the outcome than strategy, though. The Pacers lacked the spark of a team trying to improve its playoff position. It was playing its third game in four nights, but so was Milwaukee, which had given up 47 first-quarter points to the lowly Lakers on Friday.
"I didn't like it," McMillan said of his team's energy level. "I think we're better than that. We've had some tough teams come in, but I don't know where that came from. I expected better than that tonight."
C.J. Miles led Indiana's scoring with 23 points, hitting 6-of-11 3-pointers, but the most impressive Pacers player was Monta Ellis. The 31-year-old had the liveliest legs, scoring 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting off the bench and driving the lane for two impressive dunks. He's averaged 13 points and hit 61.5 percent of his shots over the last three games, clearly adjusting to his role as a backup.
"Right now, my focus is to do whatever I can to help this team win," he said. "I just try to be consistent, try to bring it every night."
"I'm just playing with a different mindset right now."
His teammates will need one, too, to break loose from this losing streak. It starts with finding a way to reduce some of those threes to two.
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