Nate Taylor

nate.taylor@indystar.com

MILWAUKEE – No longer can the Indiana Pacers attribute their struggles to the remodeled roster.

“Them are just excuses,” Monta Ellis said. “We just got to get to a point where we’ve got to do it. It’s the whole team. We’ve got to find a way to do it. A new team? We’ve got to put that out of our heads.”

No longer can the Pacers emphasis the future or the past.

“I know how good we can be; I know how good we were,” Paul George said. “We’re nowhere close to it. It’s embarrassing, the way we’re playing and how we look on the floor.”

No longer can the Pacers say it’s just a rough start.

“It’s five games,” C.J. Miles said. “But it’s five games.”

Yes, through five games, the Pacers know exactly who they are: a horrible team on defense.

Thursday was another example, as the Pacers were punished by the Milwaukee Bucks in a 125-107 loss. The Bucks were bigger, taller, and, most notably, stronger. They bullied their way into the paint at will. They ran past the Pacers in transition for dunks. They swished 3-pointers at a blistering 44.4 percent.

The Pacers’ performance in the BMO Harris Bradley Center was followed with pure silence in the visitors’ locker room. George looked at the game’s box score on his iPhone and studied it in disappointing fashion.

“We drill defense every day,” he said. “It’s not transferring over into the games. We’re not figuring it out. We’re clueless on defense. It’s pathetic at this point.”

• BOX SCORE: Bucks 125, Pacers 107

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The Bucks became the fifth opponent to score more than 100 points against the Pacers. After Thursday, Indiana is surrendering 115 points per game.

The way the Bucks roasted the Pacers was simple. The Pacers strategy to defend the Bucks was to stop their penetration and limit their own turnovers. The Pacers failed. The Bucks scored 62 points in the paint. The Pacers committed 21 turnovers, which led to 34 points for Milwaukee.

“No disrespect to a couple of their guys, but they don’t shoot the ball particularly well,” Miles said. “We knew that. The game plan, obviously, is to keep them out of the paint. Some guys made some shots. OK. But what about the times they still got to the basket? What about the times we gave up wide open shots? We’re not playing the way we should be playing as a group.”

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker, one of the league's young and talented tandems, disrupted the Pacers in just about every facet Thursday.

Antetokounmpo, a 6-11 point-forward, best showed his skills and tenacity in the open court. Once the Pacers made a mistake, Antetokounmpo sprinted to attack the basket. He finished with 27 points and nine rebounds, and was rewarded for his effort with seven free throws. Paul George did his best to make Antetokounmpo uncomfortable, but his attempts were unsuccessful.

“He’s long and what makes him so tough is they’re constantly moving,” George said of Antetokounmpo. “They do a great job of using his abilities. He’s not a shooter, but they do a great job of hiding that and making him a slasher.”

Parker, the 6-8 forward, was so smooth on offense that he made his season-high 27 points appear effortless. He also made a season-high four 3-pointers.

“They were in attack mode,” McMillan said of Antetokounmpo and Parker. “Those two young guys, they play hard every possession on both ends of the floor. They are always on the attack. Tonight they were just unbelievable.”

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Consider the Pacers' mindset as they walked into the locker room Thursday at halftime.

They performed at almost their optimum level offensively. They shared the basketball efficiently, took quality shots and exploited many mismatches. The Pacers shot 55.6 percent from the field and scored 57 points – and trailed by six points.

Rarely do NBA teams, no matter the collection of stars, play perfect offense for 48 minutes. Yet the Pacers felt that was their impossible mission against the Bucks because of how inept the Pacers were on defense.

The Pacers, whose offense is designed to apply pressure on opponents, instead felt pressure from themselves in the third quarter and crumbled under it.

“We take a tough shot because we’re trying to keep it competitive,” George said. “We come down on offense and we try to make tough plays. Everything is all random and it’s hard for us, I think, as a team to figure out what’s going on on the fly. We’re not dialed in on either in.”

The Pacers did cut the Bucks’ lead to seven points with 4:11 left.

Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd, though, called a timeout and the Bucks dissected the Pacers’ defense once again with ease. Simple dribble penetration led to a wide open corner 3-pointer from Tony Snell. The next play was an easy lob pass from Matthew Dellavedova to Miles Plumlee for an emphatic dunk.

“We’re not tied together, man, and you can see it,” Miles said. “We’re not showing no spirit, no heart.”

McMillan called a timeout after Plumlee’s dunk. The Milwaukee crowd roared and the Pacers’ defense, for the third time in five games, prevented them from a victory.

“It’s unacceptable,” Ellis said. “That’s the feeling. This is not how we play basketball.”

Inside the locker room, the veteran Pacers weren’t the only dissatisfied. Assistant coach Dan Burke, who has been team’s defensive guru for 20 years, told the players that the entire coaching staff needs to be better, too.

“It’s definitely a little gut-check coming,” Miles said. “How bad do you want to do it? How bad do you want to be good? How bad do you want to win? It’s definitely coming, from one through 15. Everybody’s got to get better.”

Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

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Bulls at Pacers, 7 p.m. Saturday, FSI