The SHOCKING Ending As Bucks Implode vs Pacers in Game 5 | 2025 NBA Playoffs

The SHOCKING Ending As Bucks Implode vs Pacers in Game 5 | 2025 NBA Playoffs

season match ups. They’ve made 64. Giannis the bucket and the foul. That was a grown man move on to the gooo. At this point in the game, the Pacers should have already started making plans to head back to Milwaukee for game six. But every single solitary point counts in the playoffs, and you simply cannot celebrate too early, as a Bucks cameraman found out when Giannis’ free throw struggles continued. and I wasn’t even sure it was a great idea to force the switch and let Hallebertton go one-on-one with Giannis, who has a big size advantage, but can almost match’s quickness. The cross gallop gets the slightest advantage to the hoop and Giannis has no hope but to make him earn the points. It should be of note that the Bucks didn’t seem really prepared for the Pacers obvious press in this situation, but Porter Jr. gets open enough and the Bucks come down wanting to nurse the clock. Yiannis wants to clear the right side for an inside pick and roll to Porter’s strong left-hand side. AJ Green looks confused while Doc is on the court freaking out on him. I think because he wanted Green to set the screen and AJ says, “What do you want me to do?” Giannis is already there. So, they actually get a switch, but it’s possible Giannis doesn’t want to post up on the much smaller Nemhard because he’s worried he’ll get fouled and have to shoot more free throws. Now, remember, when you’re down, you must get the best shot you can as quickly as you can get it. It makes zero sense for a team to run the clock down for a final shot if you’re losing since you need more possessions. And you can’t just assume you’ll score. If you miss, you need time to foul and get the ball back. So, while it’s not the quickest attack, they do get into it very well defended until Hallebertton turns the corner. Notice there’s no help from Portoris, who should be rotating over and Green can cover a potential kickout pass. So, they just give up the game-tying shot as an uncontested dunk. something that should never ever happen in a playoff game. We get a quick glimpse into the huddle and the play Doc wants to draw up as he’s probably telling Giannis, “You’ll have the ball in your hands and you get to decide the game.” The play itself wasn’t much in terms of X’s and O’s. False action with the green pinned onto the top. Nothing wrong with simplifying in these situations and the only thing you can ask is, is a turnaround fade away from 16 ft over a strong double team a better shot than a wideopen three from an elite shooter? And that gets us to the most improbable ending to a closeout playoff game I think we’ve ever seen. Pacers fans remember Gary Trent Jr. In fact, I’m sure he haunts their nightmares considering he ignited in game three. Six-point lead, 40 seconds left in overtime, and they’ve got an 81 12% free throw shooter at the line. But these are his first attempts in the series. And whatever Doc is saying to him here didn’t appear to help since he chokes the second free throw to the right. Two things are imperative defensively in this situation. Don’t let them get a hyper quick shot and don’t let them get a three. Well, this was both. And while Giannis is standing on the three-point line, and this shot is 5 ft beyond that, you still want to get a hand up as Nemhard just buries it like he’s in a shooting drill. No biggie. They’re still up four, but they’re not prepared for the press. This could have been a quick inbound to Trent, but instead it’s chaos as no screens are set and Doc panics and has to burn a timeout. This will become crucial in a minute. That said, Trent would have been trapped within an inch of the baseline under the basket. So, I think the timeout saved them a catastrophe for the time being. This time, Doc turns to Dave Jagger to drop the play. And we’ll see that this wasn’t a much better decision as Doc says, “Hey, AJ, after you pass, get right back in.” Before Gary Trent says, “How many timeouts do we have?” Meanwhile, the Pacers are planning to double the inbounds as hard as they can, trying to get a steal for several seconds before they have to worry about following. And this is an old school stack play like we all used to run back in high school. First thing I’m not ecstatic about is sending a potential receiver this far into the back court, eliminating an emergency outlet. Now, this works fine to get Trent open, but you have to think beyond that. Trent immediately turns to the middle as if he’s expecting someone to cut. But Porter is 60 ft away, and Giannis and Portoris have zero interest in being an outlet. The only option Trent has is to throw it back to Green, but the play calls for Trent to be curling towards the baseline. And of course, they’re going to jump him on the catch, so it’s hard for him to turn back. And the spacing is just terrible. Now, watch Nemhardt. This is what winning players do. He knows he can ignore Porter in no man’s land and sprints right to the only outlet Trent has and just plucks it out of the air with the presence of mind to find Turner before he steps out of bounds. This is nothing short of stunning. But the Bucks are still up four and the crowd is sensing something as they’re all on their feet. Something hustle back and are good position to defend. Except I don’t think it was optimal for Green to be nose-nose with Hallebertton 43 ft from the basket. The goal is to make them take as much time as possible. So getting blown by this quickly is not good. Now he’s going to the left side of the floor. That means Giannis as a low man has to help. He just stands there. And Green’s half-hearted attempt to defend not only gets him a foul, but allows the one thing you cannot allow, the clock stopping and the free throw opportunity because it puts them in a tough out-of- bound situation yet again. But this gets even worse. Sports fans, watch what Doc is saying to Trent during the free throw. I needed you to foul. We had a foul to give. We had one to give. So, you mean to tell me that a team of four with around 20 seconds left could have taken the foul and forced the Pacers to reset against the set defense and they didn’t do it? If Doc told them and they didn’t execute, it still reflects poorly on the coach. Now, when facing a press, you have to know that the inbounders man becomes a third defender. And if you only bring two players up and they don’t set any type of screen for each other, you’re going to struggle to get the ball in. Listen to when the whistle blows to signal a timeout by Dock. Yeah, it happens after the release, which technically means they can’t be granted the timeout since the Bucks don’t have possession of the ball while it’s midair. Maybe the ref saw Doc’s signal and there was a delay before he can get aired to the whistle. And lordy was he lucky they granted it since you can see what happened to the pass. There’s Trent in the huddle intensely telling everyone to be strong with the ball and coach Jagger has to literally walk onto the court and tell everyone where to stand. The play went fine as they utilize the whole court to get it in bounds. Again, the Pacers don’t need to foul right away and the Bugs do well to get it into the middle and then release to their hottest player who holds the ball until he’s f Oh, never mind. There’s not much to say other than another meltdown for a doc coach team in a series deciding game. Considering how hot Trent was in the overtime, it’s utterly shocking that he couldn’t be one with the ball as it appeared the basketball gods had blessed his hand once again with clutch three after clutch three. But those gods can be punishing. And if you celebrate too early, they might make you return all that glory. They run that same play to attack Giannis in the pick and roll that got them the free throws earlier. And this time it’s Portoris who absolutely has to rotate over to help when Giannis gets caught reaching in on the crossover. At this point, you need to foul and prevent him from getting the game-winning shot up. But Harley is too quick. And remember those two timeouts they had to call because they weren’t prepared well enough for a press? Sure would have come in handy as they have to inbound fullourt. And there you have it, sports fans. If you missed my video from last year detailing the game seven losses in Doc Rivers’s career at some point when you see coaching and players meltdown on a consistent basis, you have to wonder if it’s an issue with the bench. I mean, it’s not Doc’s fault that Gary Trent Jr. let the ball go through the wickets and that probably decided the game. But had any of the other things in his control gone better, I suspect he would be in Milwaukee right now prepping for a game six with some momentum. This series was pretty contentious with some bad blood lingering from games past where we’d seen Hallebertton drive a dagger into their hearts already. Hallebertton’s dad had this towel and started waving it and taunting Giannis immediately after the game, which is incredibly poor sportsmanship. But check how he had a meeting of the minds. Giannis calmly explained how he felt. Howie’s dad seemed to understand. And as they were separating, you can even see Giannis say, “I love you.” Which is nice. However, something more serious was Ben Mattherin giving Giannis a hug, but with a rise smile that makes me wonder if he had said something out of bounds as Giannis turned that hug into something more threatening. I’m sure it’s related to this knee that Matherin took to the abdomen that caused him to miss game four. It was kind of funny to see him in all that pain on the floor, yet still determined to get coach Carlile the challenge to play. plus the subsequent technical foul he got for getting in Giannis’s face at the free throw line in a very brash display by a young guy to one of the biggest stars in the league. I’m glad that cooler heads ultimately prevailed and I suspect this is the kind of intense rivalry the NBA has been missing to ratchet up the interest. But for now, it’s Carile one doc zero and another offseason where the Bucks have some serious decisions to make.

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