Bucks Stop The Pacers

Milwaukee coach George Karl dared his bench to produce in a big game and that's just what the reserves did.

Glenn Robinson scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Milwaukee got 38 points from its bench as the Bucks defeated the Indiana Pacers 109-95 Saturday night.

"The Indiana bench has been playing at a fantastic pace," Karl said after his club won its third in a row and held the Pacers' reserves to 18 points. "We challenged our bench tonight.

"I don't know if our bench can play any better."

"Danny Manning was fantastic mentally on the court as well as physically," Karl said after the Bucks beat the Pacers for the first time since March 16, 1997.

The Pacers came into the game having won eight of their last nine, but the Bucks' bench cooled them off.

Tim Thomas, Vinny Del Negro and Robert Traylor played their supportive parts perfectly.

Thomas had nine points and five rebounds in 26 minutes of action. Traylor was a physical presence especially in the first quarter when the Pacers worked on Ervin Johnson, forcing him to the bench with three fouls. Del Negro had eight points and five assists.

Scott Williams, who played a season-high 38 minutes and scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds, cotinued to play a key role for the Bucks since breaking into the starting lineup at Chicago in early December.

"Scott right now is giving us great minutes, not just good minutes," Karl said. "Right now, I have trouble keeping him off the basketball court."

Williams said that losing six games to the Pacers last season made the victory a must.

"This was a team that beat us six time last year," he said. "It was personal."

Reggie Miller led the Pacers with 21 points and Jalen Rose added 19. Dale Davis had 18 points and 15 rebounds but it wasn't enough.

Robinson had 13 points in the fourth quarter as the Bucks, who led 80-77 after three quarters, opened the period with a 24-12 run.

"I put the pressure on myself to go out and play well in the fourth quarter," Robinson said.

The Pacers erased the Bucks' 13-point lead at 67-54 with a 19-4 run sparked by Rose's three layups and a 3-pointer to help Indiana regain the lead 73-71 with 3:37 left in the third.

"We let too many of their role players have too much life," Miller said after making six-of-15 shots from the floor, including four three-pointers.

Ray Allen, who had 16 points, brought the Bucks right back with two free throws and a three-point play during a 9-4 surge that gave Milwaukee an 80-77 lead after three.

"We blew a lead," Karl said, "but we reinstated ourselves. A lot of it was Glenn. We rode Glenn for about four or five minutes. He was fantastic."

The Bucks trailed throughout the first half, but stayed close and finally caught the Pacers when Williams started a 10-6 run late in the second quarter. His free throw gave Milwaukee their first lead at 47-46. The lead changed four more times before the Bucks led 56-52 at the half.

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