Bucks stave off elimination thanks to 'amazing' Khris Middleton and 'fantastic' Pat Beverley

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MILWAUKEE — As the Bucks' MarJon Beauchamp lined up a free throw with a 15-point lead in the final minute in Game 5 on Tuesday, the sellout crowd  tried out a new chant.

"Bucks in 7!" the crowd yelled with a few claps in between. "Bucks in 7!"

The rhythm of the chant wasn't exactly right and the crowd was not on beat, but that was to be expected.

Over the years, Bucks fans have perfected their "Bucks in 6!" chant — the defiant rally cry of an overmatched 2013 Bucks team that turned into a prophecy for the 2021 championship team. But the Bucks had already dropped three games in their first-round series against the Indiana Pacers, so those in attendance were forced to recalibrate their optimism as the Bucks wrapped up a 115-92 victory on Tuesday night.

The crowd's spirit matched the will their team showed in their do-or-die, win-and-stay-home Game 5 match-up against the Pacers. With Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard on the sidelines for their fifth and second consecutive games, respectively, Bucks coach Doc Rivers needed his team to execute new strategies on offense and defense, things the Bucks had not done much during the regular season. And that is exactly what happened in the Bucks' desperate effort to extend the series to Game 6 in Indianapolis on Thursday.

"We had a very lively film session today," Rivers said after the win. "It was very positive, but it was very lively. And you could feel the energy in the film and in our walkthrough. I didn't know we were going to win. You never know as a coach.

"But I did walk off the floor and I said, 'We're coming tonight.' I told our coaches, I said, 'I don't know if we're gonna win, but we're coming to play and win tonight.' You can feel it. You can feel in the preparation, how locked in (they were). That was not a team walking through a walkthrough thinking this was it. That's a team thinking they can win, and it showed."

As it has the last three games, that effort and focus started with three-time All-Star Khris Middleton, who ended Tuesday's win with 29 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. With Antetokounmpo and Lillard out, Middleton has stepped up this series to lead the Bucks, and he did so once again on Tuesday, scoring 10 of the Bucks' first 14 points to keep the Bucks afloat in the first quarter as the rest of the team steadied themselves and the Pacers splashed 3s (7-of-13 from deep in the first quarter) to take an early lead.

Khash. Money.

He's got 10 of our first 14 points. pic.twitter.com/PFRae3mDvy

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) May 1, 2024

And while his first-quarter effort was pretty with stepback 3s and step-through finger rolls, the rest of his first half was gritty and tough. With the team facing elimination, Middleton dug deep with his effort and grabbed three offensive rebounds in the first half and even drew a foul fighting for another offensive rebound at the end of the first half.

The 12-year NBA veteran is typically seen as a finesse player, but he brought a physical edge to the Bucks' first-half effort on Tuesday.

"He's been amazing," Rivers said of Middleton. "On both ends too. But he has the ability to score. He knows how to play-make as well. He really, in a lot of ways, even though one of the guards would come off of him, he was setting up everyone tonight. So, Khris was — on both ends, played a lot of minutes, wanted to stay in — he gave us everything tonight."

But for the Bucks to pull out a win in Game 5, they needed more than just Middleton on the offensive end. They needed to find a way to put pressure on the rim and get into the paint, so in the first half they manufactured some of that pressure by setting wide curl screens and dribble handoffs for players like Pat Connaughton (nine points, four assists) to get downhill and create for others.

"If we could set the right angles on the picks, and we told Malik (Beasley) and Pat Connaughton, whoever comes off, get to the paint," River said. "On film, they were just coming off to make a pass and we were like, 'No, try to score, go downhill, get in the paint.' We said that over and over today."

After manufacturing offense with more creative actions and good screens in the first half, the Bucks gave the ball to Patrick Beverley in the third quarter and watched as he put on a playmaking clinic.

They set some of those same screens and ran similar actions for Beverley at times, but as the third quarter progressed, Beverley just took over the game. There was nothing innovative or creative about this play in the third quarter. It's not even a called set; Beverley just beat Ben Sheppard off the dribble one-on-one, drew help and made a play. He finished with 13 points and 12 assists.

"I thought Pat Beverley was fantastic," Rivers said. "His scoring was good, but I thought his playmaking was unbelievable tonight."

The Bucks received offensive contributions from players throughout the roster. All five members of the starting lineup were in double figures, led by Middleton and Bobby Portis, who tallied 29 points and 10 rebounds two days after being ejected for an altercation with Andrew Nembhard in Game 4. Malik Beasley did not score in the first half and then scored 18 second-half points, including some of the biggest 3-pointers of the night to help the Bucks build and then maintain a sizable lead.

On the defensive end, Rivers made a tactical choice that had a significant impact.

"What did they take the other night, like 46 3s?" Rivers said, slightly overestimating the Pacers' 22-for-43 shooting from 3 in Game 4. "So we just decided we're switching everything, even Brook on Haliburton. We didn't care. And then we were going to rotate. What we didn't want to do is overreact to their 2s. In the first half, I think they got two 3s because I think Siakam got it in the paint, we swarmed him and that's when I called a timeout.

"And I said, 'Listen, if Siakam is going to make those, then good. He's a great player. He's going to make some shots.' We just couldn't overreact to how good he is. But I thought taking away the 3s was huge for us tonight. They had such a big advantage on us in this series from that line. And tonight I think they made one more than us. That was really important."

The Bucks switched defensively all game long, but mentally messed with the Pacers by not using traditional matchups to open the third quarter as Rivers put Middleton on Pacers center Myles Turner and Brook Lopez on wing Aaron Nesmith.

Rivers never showed that look in the first half.

So, while Pacers coach Rick Carlisle most certainly took his players through ways they could execute better against the Bucks' switches, the sets he prepared and explained in the locker room probably would not have accounted for Middleton on Turner. While a Haliburton pick-and-roll with Turner would have resulted in Lopez on Haliburton in the first half, that same action in the second half would have just left Middleton covering Haliburton.

On top of the switching, the Bucks were just active on defense. Their help defenders got their hands on drives and passes and wreaked havoc on the Pacers' offense.

Beverley came up with the steal on the play above, but Connaughton's help in the gap made that drive difficult by confining the space available for T.J. McConnell.

"I can't wait to see our deflection sheet," Rivers said. "We'll get it later tonight, but it has to be high. And that was part of the whole switching thing. Build the wall. No direct passes. We call them LeBron or Magic passes, you know, the line drives. We just kept saying hang time, make them throw (the ball) up in the air and if they do, we've got a chance to go get them. And I thought our guys did that."

All over the roster, on both ends of the floor, the Bucks executed the game plan and came out with a complete team win to keep their season alive for at least one more game. And after the Game 5 win, Rivers suggested the Bucks may have some help in Indianapolis for Game 6 on Thursday.

"I don't know how to answer that," Rivers said, when asked about the potential returns of Antetokounmpo and Lillard. "I know I hope (they return this series). I think they're very, very, very close."

(Photo of Khris Middleton: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)