Pacers GM Chad Buchanan Previews Playoff Series Against Bucks
Pacers GM Chad Buchanan Previews PlayoffSeries Against Bucks
Indiana Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan knows his team has a tough test ahead of them.
The Pacers will host Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the NBA playoffs, in a rematch of last year’s first round series that saw the Pacers emerge victorious. It’s yet another chapter in a growing rivalry between two teams based in the Midwest, and it figures that there will be no love lost between the two squads when they meet on Saturday. The Pacers will enter the series as the favorites, but you can never count out a team with Giannis, especially with how well he has been playing.
One player whose status isn’t certain is Damian Lillard of the Bucks. Lillard has been out of action since March 18th, when he was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and put on blood thinners. He will be inactive for Game 1, but has been cleared and taken off his medication, and should be able to begin working his way back into the lineup soon.
During the Thursday edition of The Ride With JMV, Chad Buchanan joined the show and gave his reaction to the Lillard news.
“First off, you’re just happy for a guy like that’s health. I’ve known Damian since I was with the Blazers, and he’s a first class guy, great competitor, great player obviously…Not completely shocked, I think players are going to do everything that they can in their power to be available, especially this time of year for the playoffs. Dame’s a great competitor, and I’m sure he was doing everything in his power to get himself back, and I’m sure he has first-class doctors that he’s working with. So, you’ve got to be prepared for anything this time of year, and our focus is really on a really good team. I mean, the Bucks are a very, very good team, they’re playing well at the right time of the year, and they gave us all kind of problems this year during the regular season, so we’ve got our hands full.”
Chad also spoke about the challenge in trying to contain Giannis.
“He’s a beast to try and cover, it doesn’t take one guy, it takes a whole team and whole gameplan to slow him down. I think the difference this year is they have five players on their roster who are all shooting at least 40% from three, and that doesn’t even include Damian, or Brook Lopez or Bobby Portis. Those guys are all good shooters, but they’ve got five other guys that are shooting 40% or above from three, and four of them weren’t on their roster last year. Giannis has got a lot of shooting around him, and those guys are really sticking shots right now, and that creates a whole sort of issues for your defense trying to figure out how to pick your poison. Do you want to take away the three-point shooting, and give Giannis the lane to the rim, or do you want to try and take away Giannis and hopefully contest shots on the perimeter and hope they miss shots. So, he’s a load to matchup against, and it’s going to take everybody on the floor, at all times, [being] aware of where he’s at and what he’s trying to do.”
Listen to JMV’s full conversation with Pacers GM Chad Buchanan down below, and tune into The Ride With JMV weekdays from 3-6pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan!