Bucks’ Bobby Portis calls Pacers ‘frontrunners’ as rivalry grows in 2024 NBA playoffs

MILWAUKEE — The Indiana Pacers bounced back from a rough start to the playoffs with a 125-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 on Tuesday night to even their first-round series at 1-1. After the final buzzer, Bucks forward Bobby Portis reignited the rivalry between the teams by calling the Pacers “frontrunners.” 

Portis finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, but shot just 6-of-16 from the field. Early in the third quarter, in the midst of a minor incident between Andrew Nembhard and Patrick Beverley, Portis got into what can only be described as a clapping match with Tyrese Haliburton and Nembhard. 

“I mean, just quite frankly, they’re frontrunners, bro,” Portis said. “Y’all can just tweet that or whatever it is, bro. When the shit going good, they laughing, clapping all that. When it’s going bad, they not saying nothing. 

“So I think to answer that question, guys always feel good when they’re having a good game or hitting shots. I think that’s just human nature and basketball… So yeah, they’re supposed to feel good. They were hitting shots. They game-planned really well, so yeah, they’re supposed to feel really good, of course. But Game 3 on the way Friday.”

The Bucks and Pacers developed a real rivalry this season over the course of five games, all of which took place in the span of two months. While the “ballgate” game in December was the most memorable, that was the only one the Bucks won, as the Pacers took the regular season series 4-1. Bucks guard Malik Beasley predicted a playoff series back in January and promised revenge. “It’s not gonna be pretty for them,” Beasley said at the time. 

Ever since the postseason meeting was confirmed, however, the Bucks have downplayed what happened all those months ago, back when they were still coached by Adrian Griffin and the Pacers didn’t have Pascal Siakam. In fact, Portis was leading that charge less than 12 hours before Game 2. 

“The regular season, we gotta stop talking about the 82 games,” Portis said at shootaround on Tuesday morning. “Everybody keep harping on they beat us four times and all that, but it’s the playoffs. People put a little more direction, a little more focus on the little things, put a little more effort as well. 

“I’m really tired of talking about what they did in the regular season. Let’s talk about what we want to do going forward… Can’t really harp on what happened in the 82 games, nobody really care about that anymore.”

His comments late on Tuesday, however, confirmed that this is not your average first-round series.