Before the Milwaukee Bucks played the Pistons in Detroit on Friday, head coach Doc Rivers offered an assessment of his team’s defense.
“We like our defense,” Rivers said. “We don’t like our transition defense right now. That’s one area where we thought we were doing great, and it’s kind of slipped away.”
That weakness was on full display on consecutive defensive possessions in the first quarter on Friday.
Eight seconds after Brook Lopez knocked down a floater in the lane, Cade Cunningham threw a kick-ahead pass to Malik Beasley, who had enough space to rise for a transition 3-pointer.
After Kyle Kuzma missed a turnaround jumper on the next possession, Cunningham pushed the ball, wrapped it behind his back when Kevin Porter Jr. went for a steal and then floated it over Lopez for another transition bucket.
In 30 seconds, the Pistons added five points to their lead.
The Bucks were in a position to defend both possessions, but they didn’t perform their transition defense well enough. According to NBA.com, the Bucks only allowed 11 fast break points in the game. So for most of the night, they executed their transition defense in a win they needed to secure the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed.
However, those momentary lapses, even for just a few possessions, cannot happen in their first-round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, a fact Rivers knows well.
“I thought we did a really good job the other night in transition D,” Rivers said of the Bucks’ transition defense on Friday before their 140-133 win over the Pistons on Sunday. “I thought it was a big game, and we showed we could do it.
“Listen, we play Indiana. If we’re not good in transition D, we’re not going to be very good.”
If Milwaukee wants to beat Indiana in Game 1 on Saturday (and the rest of the series), the Bucks need to get back on defense and communicate well when the Pacers start their attack. Few teams prioritize and weaponize pace quite like the Pacers.
Per data from Sportradar, the Pacers crossed half court before the shot clock hit 20 seconds on 76.4 percent of their full-court possessions this season. On 26.4 percent of their possessions, they crossed half court by the time the shot clock hit 22, the third-highest rate of any team in the NBA. For context, the Bucks crossed half court by 22 on just 14 percent of their possessions, which was last in the NBA.
When the Pacers grab a rebound, they immediately start their attack. And they can make the Bucks pay for not getting back. Per NBA.com, the Pacers averaged 17.5 fast break points per game this season. In four contests against the Bucks, they averaged 24.3 fast break points per game.
| Date | Score | Fast Break Points |
|---|---|---|
|
Nov 22, 2024 |
Bucks 129, Pacers 117 |
Pacers 26, Bucks 21 |
|
Dec 31, 2025 |
Bucks 120, Pacers 112 |
Pacers 22, Bucks 13 |
|
Mar 11, 2025 |
Pacers 115, Bucks 114 |
Pacers 31, Bucks 3 |
|
Mar 15, 2025 |
Bucks 126, Pacers 119 |
Pacers 18, Bucks 8 |
If the Bucks don’t build a strong wall in transition, the Pacers will take advantage as they did on this possession from the third regular-season meeting:
When the possession started, all five Bucks were even with or ahead of the ball, but Pascal Siakam’s kick-ahead pass quickly flipped the numbers game. When Andrew Nembhard crossed half court with 22 seconds remaining on the shot clock, he sprinted ahead of three defenders and had two more teammates in front of him.
It might have looked funky with Tyrese Haliburton and Aaron Nesmith running down the right sideline but the Pacers’ running habits created a numbers advantage with a 3-on-2 break. The Pacers did this — something catalogued as a power-play opportunity by Sportradar — on 13.4 percent of their offensive possessions this season, which was second in the NBA only behind the Denver Nuggets.
That pace and spacing created a 1-on-1 opportunity for Nembhard to attack AJ Green, the lone defender inside the 3-point line, and he took full advantage with an and-one finish.
In the second quarter of the fourth regular-season matchup between these two teams, the Bucks created a 19-point second-quarter lead and then watched the Pacers put together an 11-0 run to get back in the game. It wasn’t surprising that Indiana’s transition attack played a large role in that run.
On this transition bucket, Siakam boxed in Lopez, pulling off a strategy the Pacers have successfully used during the last few seasons to juice their transition attack.
If opponents try to crash the offensive glass or stick around the lane looking for an offensive rebound, the Pacers will often do their best to push those players toward the baseline, then give them one final bump as they head the other way in transition.
Siakam boxing in Lopez gave him a head start and provided the Pacers a 5-on-4 advantage on the break as the Bucks center tried to catch up. With the Bucks crossmatched and out of position, Green was forced into an out-of-control closeout, and Nesmith made him pay with a pump fake and dribble to his side for a corner 3.
On Indiana’s next offensive possession, Nembhard just ran past every Bucks player on the floor:
Lapses like that will be unacceptable in this playoff series.
At the start of every defensive possession, the Bucks must sprint back to stop the Pacers’ initial attack. The Pacers are a strong offensive team (ninth in offensive rating) capable of getting through multiple actions and creating something late in the shot clock, but that is where the Bucks need to force them to work.
If the Bucks want to win this series, the Pacers can’t regularly score on their initial attack.
The Pacers pushing the ball in transition shouldn’t surprise the Bucks. Milwaukee struggled mightily with Indiana’s pace in the team’s five regular-season matchups with Adrian Griffin at the helm last season, but their transition defense has improved over the last season and a half.
Last season under Griffin, the Bucks were last in opponent transition percentage, meaning teams got out on the run more against the Bucks than any other team. Last season under Rivers, that number improved to 11th. In the 2024-25 regular season, the Bucks finished 18th in the category.
For the Bucks to defeat the Pacers, it will start with stopping — or at least slowing down — the Pacers’ transition attack.
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(Photo of Andrew Nembhard: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)