PACERS GAMING VS BUCKS GAMING – 2023 “THE TURN” TOURNAMENT
June 27, 2023
INDIANAPOLIS (June 27, 2023) – Pacers Gaming battled to the end Tuesday night but dropped a heart-breaking 62-60 loss to undefeated Bucks Gaming (4-0) in group play action of the NBA 2K League 5v5 THE TURN Tournament presented by AT&T. Indiana (2-2 in THE TURN) will be back in action on Friday evening with two games: 7:00 p.m. against Warriors Gaming Squad and 9:00 p.m. versus Blazer5 Gaming. The Pacers are now 4-5 all-time against Milwaukee in 5v5 competition.
CHESS (Kory Taylor) led all Pacers in scoring with 20 points and had two assists but suffered a season-high five turnovers. GREENLIGHT (Dylan Sanderson) scored 17 for Indiana and earned four assists but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter and committed four turnovers. RANGE (Gil Santiago, Jr.) matched his season high with 13 points and veteran center BIG REIGN (Blaine Wilson) added seven points, a career-high seven assists and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. JAYSNAGS (Julio Laboy) contributed five rebounds, two assists, a season-high four steals and scored three points. JOHHNYRED led Milwaukee with 21 tallies while COOKS scored 18.
After the undefeated Bucks stormed to a 16-11 first-quarter advantage, the Pacers fell behind by 10 (21-11) early in the second quarter. But the Pacers battled back behind CHESS with 10 points and RANGE with five to take the lead 29-28 with :14 left in the first half. A late bucket gave the Bucks a 30-29 edge at intermission. The Pacers trailed for most of the third quarter – as many as nine with 1:50 left – but rallied to pull within five after three periods, 50-45. GREENLIGHT had eight in the third quarter to pace Indiana. Down 10, 58-48 with just 2:21 left in the game, the Pacers rallied and pulled within three, 58-55 with 33.1 remaining. But late free throws carried Milwaukee to the two point win. The Bucks were 10-of-10 from the free throw line in the game while Indiana was four-of-five. Both teams were 23-of-44 from the field and Milwaukee shot six-of-20 from the three-point arc while the Pacers were 10-of-23 from three.
