Damian Lillard scores 34, but Milwaukee Bucks fall to Indiana Pacers in Game 2

In Game 1 on Sunday, Damian Lillard scored 35 points - all in the first half - against the Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks rolled to a 15-point victory in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

During Game 2 on Tuesday night, Lillard scored 34 points - 26 in the first half - and the Bucks fell 125-108 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

The major difference between the two games was that the Pacers, who had the best offense in the NBA during the regular season, got rolling and the Bucks, playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo (lower leg strain), couldn’t keep up.

Lillard got off to a hot start with 26 points in the first half on 7-of-12 shooting but cooled off in the second half. He finished the game 10 of 21 from the field and 6 of 13 on three-point shots after going 6 of 11 from long distance in the first half.

“I think they picked up the pressure, they started to face guard and deny a little bit harder,” Lillard told reporters. “And I must think we weren’t as organized as we needed to be when they defended that way. When our offense is struggling with our spacing, our pace sometimes, you’ve got to be able to be focused. You’ve got to be able to execute through that even when you’re tired.”

The Pacers shot 55.6% from the field and 44.4% from long distance (16 of 36) on the night while being led with 37 points from forward Pascal Siakam.

The Bucks trailed 92-88 early in the fourth quarter but then allowed the Pacers to go on a 20-4 run to take a 112-92 lead with 7:03 remaining in the game.

The Pacers shot 70% in the fourth quarter.

Game 3 is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., Friday at Indiana.

-- Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)

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