Bobby Portis fires back at Pacers over their trash talk

April 24, 2024

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The Indiana Pacers are getting some return fire from Bobby Buckets.

Indiana wrestled homecourt advantage away from the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday with a 125-108 victory in Game 2 of their first-round series. It was a heated contest that featured several dust-ups, including Milwaukee forward Bobby Portis getting into it with Indiana guards Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard.

Pacers back to being the Villains. NBA playoffs are HERE. Bobby Portis vs Tyrese Haliburton too 😭 pic.twitter.com/e6DaFi24O2

— 🤍’ (@HeavenlyBuckets) April 24, 2024

Haliburton also took a big swipe at Bucks fans after the game, saying that Pacers fans had been louder for regular season games than Bucks fans were for playoff games.

"We've had regular season crowds better than what we've played in the last two games." 🍿

Tyrese Haliburton is looking forward to Game 3 in Indy 🔥 pic.twitter.com/X1eYur62Mi

— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 24, 2024

Speaking with the media, Portis then fired back at the Pacers with some harsh remarks.

“I mean, just quite frankly, they’re frontrunners, bro,” said Portis, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “Y’all can just tweet that or whatever it is, bro. When the s–t going good, they laughing, clapping, all that. When it’s going bad, they not saying nothing,”

“Guys always feel good when they’re having a good game or hitting shots, everybody,” Portis added. “I think that’s just human nature and basketball. When you making shots, you feeling good. But when the tough going, you can’t get nothing going, it kind of goes the other way. So, yeah, they are supposed to feel really good, of course … But Game 3 on the way Friday.”

Milwaukee, of course, easily won Game 1 of the series last Sunday 109-94. Thus, Portis is wondering why he did not hear much from the Pacers then.

All in all, this is yet another layer to an increasingly heated rivalry between the Bucks and Pacers. When the two teams met during the regular season, we got to see everything from celebrations being mocked to game balls getting stolen.