Game Rewind: Pacers 97, Bucks 92

In their final game of the regular season, a day after securing the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and a first round meeting with the Toronto Raptors, and on a historic night consisting of Kobe Bryant's final game and the Golden State Warriors' quest for the best regular season record ever, the Indiana Pacers (45-37) closed out the season on their own positive note, with a 97-92 defeat of the Milwaukee Bucks (33-49). But the final score wasn't truly indicative of the how the game played out, as the Pacers held a double-digit lead for a vast majority of the game.

Although Coach Vogel elected to rest four starters (Paul George, George Hill, Monta Ellis, and Ian Mahinmi), the Indiana Pacers certainly didn't appear to be a team resting on their laurels, establishing an early lead that they would carry into halftime, 62-46.

The Pacers shot off to a blistering start on the road against the Bucks, thanks in large part to the shooting exhibition put on by Solomon Hill. A starter for 78 games last season, Hill made just his third start of the season on Wednesday evening, and soon after set a new career-high for 3-pointers made a mere 4:12 into the contest, giving Indiana a tone-setting 18-7 lead. Hill began with back-to-back 3-pointers from the left corner, before nailing his third from the right corner and his fourth from just north of the top of the key.

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"We ran the first play," said Hill. "I had some space and took it. Then Coach gave me the same play back-to-back. I think that really got me going. From there on my guys found me. I didn't take any dribble-up threes, come-off-screen threes. Everyone found me tonight, and if I have space, I'm taking it."

Seeing the first action of his young NBA career, rookie Rakeem Christmas notched his first career bucket on a layup to increase the Pacers' lead to 55-31 with 5:01 remaining in the first half, followed up shortly with his second basket on the Pacers' next possession.

"It was fun," said Christmas. "It was my first game, so you just want to go out there and have fun. That's what we did. We got the win too. I'm just happy to play my first game and work from there."

Upon spending the majority of the second quarter on the bench, Solomon Hill returned to the lineup to nail his fifth 3-pointer of the night with 2:53 remaining before the intermission. He finished the first half with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from deep.

The Bucks picked up their tepid scoring pace to start the second half, cutting the Pacers' lead down to six points, 76-70, on a Giannis Antetokounmpo dunk with 1:29 remaining in the third quarter. In fact, the Bucks outscored Indiana 26-16 in the third quarter.

But Hill refused to fear the deer, as he knocked down his sixth 3-pointer of the night 3:50 into the second half, establishing a season-high for himself in points with 18. His seventh and final make from long-range came with 3:33 left in the game, giving Indiana a 93-79 lead.

"He was terrific," said Coach Vogel of Hill's 25-point performance. "He obviously was guarding their primary guy, their triple-double guy, Giannis Antetokounmpo. All 32 minutes he was in there we scored on him, so we had to work really hard on the defensive end and he really stepped up with his 3-point shooting, made some big shots, got hot. We kept going to him, he kept delivering."

The Bucks put forth a respectable effort in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Pacers 22-19, but the previous damage proved too tough to overcome, as the Pacers held a five-point advantage as time expired.

"I thought that group in the second half played with a lot more energy and effort," said Bucks' coach Jason Kidd. "They got the game a little more manageable. They made plays but we didn't make shots at the end. I thought the guys there at the end and in the second half played a lot harder than the first half."

Starting for the first time as a member of the Pacers, Ty Lawson tallied seven points and four assists in the first half, and finished the night with eight points and six assists in just over 26 minutes.

The lone current starter seeing action tonight, Lavoy Allen posted an impressive 14 points and six rebounds in just over 25 minutes of action. As per usual, Allen finished with a +18 rating in the plus-minus column of the box score.

Rodney Stuckey posted 12 points, six assists, and four rebounds in his inaugural starting role of the season, making four of his eight shots and all-four free throws. Stuckey started in 36 of the 71 he games he played last season.

Recently moved to the point guard positon by Kidd, the 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo led the Bucks in scoring with 19 points to go along with nine rebounds and five assists. He was accompanied in double-figures by Jabari Parker (17 points and seven rebounds), Rashad Vaughn (10 points), and Damien Inglis (10 points and four rebounds). Tyler Ennis added five points and five assists for the crew from Brew City.

Following a strong finish to the regular season, Coach Vogel and the Pacers can now turn their attention to the postseason and focus fully on Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and the 2-seed Toronto Raptors, who closed out their season with a 103-96 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

"We changed our rotation late," said Vogel. "I feel good about what it's going to look like in the playoffs, but we're coming up against a great team so we'll see how it goes."

After sitting out five of the previous six games, Jordan Hill pulled down double-digit rebounds (11) for the first time since the Pacers' Feb. 21 win at the Orlando Magic. He struggled from the field, however, making only 1-of-9 shots for two points.

Resuming his previous role as the backup point guard, Joe Young finished the night with seven points, seven assists, and four rebounds. It was Young's most dimes since dishing out eight against the Golden State Warriors on Jan. 22.

Glenn Robinson III scored 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting, reaching double-figures in scoring for the fifth time this season, and the first time since scoring 10 points against the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 19.

Shayne Whittington contributed seven points and eight rebounds on the night, tying his career-high in scoring and setting a new mark for the youngster on the glass.

Myles Turner played the fewest minutes of all the starters, going 2-for-5 from the field for four points, five rebounds, and two blocks in just over 22 minutes of action.

The Pacers' sixth-ranked field goal percentage defense (44 percent) proved superior to the Bucks' fifth-ranked field goal percentage offense (46.7 percent), holding Milwaukee to just 42.5 percent on the night.

The Pacers scored 37 points in the first quarter for the third time this season, two points shy of their season-high set against the Brooklyn Nets on Apr. 10.

The Pacers finished the season 27-11 when leading after the first quarter, and 32-11 when leading at halftime.

"It's great. I'm proud of them. We had 10 guys in uniform, ready to go. I'm proud of all of them. They all stepped up and delivered. This game went the way I wanted it to go. We didn't have to overextend anybody. The guys came in. They were the aggressor. They jumped all over this team early and then the third unit guys came in and finished strong." -Frank Vogel on the team's overall effort tonight

"It felt good. It's what we do in practice all the time. This is what we work on. To see that pay off in a game makes you feel good." -Rakeem Christmas

"We've got guys that have got a lot to prove. Glenn Robinson [III] is out there playing good basketball. Lavoy Allen is always playing some good basketball. Collectively, we just did it tonight. We knew we had enough talent on the floor." -Solomon Hill on winning with a short lineup

Solomon Hill shattered his previous career-high in 3-pointers made (three), connecting on seven from deep. His 25 points were three points shy of his career high (28). In fact, Hill never even hit that many 3-pointers in his three seasons at the University of Arizona, as his college high was six, set against Washington State University on Feb. 2, 2013.

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