October 27, 2026 at 5:36 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Bucks hold off a shorthanded Pacers team, 110-102, as Herro and Ware set the tone

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Indiana arrived without Ivica Zubac and four other rotation players on the second night of a back-to-back, and Milwaukee came back from 11 down at halftime for its first win of the season.

Ivica Zubac's sore ankle, carried over from Sunday's win in Brooklyn, kept him out of Indiana's lineup. The X-rays were negative, but the ankle was swollen enough that Rick Carlisle had called him unlikely to play. That left the Pacers without a true center against a Milwaukee team that went on to win 110-102.

Zubac was one of five Pacers sidelined. Andrew Nembhard, T.J. McConnell, Johnny Furphy and Ben Sheppard were the others. Nembhard's absence was the murkiest. The team cited neck soreness, yet the explanations around it drifted toward a back problem, and nobody offered a timetable. What was clear was the effect. Indiana leaned on Jay Huff, Larry Nance Jr. and Jarace Walker for frontcourt minutes, and Quenton Jackson played 27 minutes.

Tyrese Haliburton, back from the torn Achilles, still played the second night of the back-to-back. He logged 35 minutes and finished with 22 points and nine assists. Pascal Siakam worked even harder, with a game-high 37 minutes and a double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds. The Pacers opened as 4.5-point road favorites, a price that assumed more help around those two than they had. Obi Toppin added 14 off the bench, and Aaron Nesmith had 13, but Indiana never got far enough ahead to relax on a night with so little depth.

Milwaukee had the cleaner balance. Tyler Herro had a double-double of 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Ryan Rollins scored 19, and Kyle Kuzma added 17 and seven boards. The decisive push came from Kel'el Ware, who needed only 19 minutes to put up 16 points and 14 rebounds, another double-double. The Bucks won as 4.5-point underdogs, their first win of the season after three losses.

Indiana led 61-50 at halftime, but Milwaukee won the third quarter 34-24 and closed it on a 17-4 run that carried into the fourth, going up 94-86. The Bucks led by as many as nine. Siakam's free throws cut it to 101-98 with 3:54 left. Then Myles Turner took over at the defensive end, blocking Jarace Walker and Siakam at the rim and stealing the ball in the final four minutes. Kasparas Jakucionis and Kuzma hit threes on the next two possessions that mattered, and Milwaukee led 108-100 with 1:53 to go. Turner finished with four blocks and the Bucks outrebounded Indiana 61-48.

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