Dame Time: Dame Lillard gets back at Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton for December trolling

Despite not having Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks blew out the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the series, 109-94. As noted by Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer, Damian Lillard likely remembered Tyrese Haliburton making Lillard's hand-watch signature move during the In-Season Tournament and drew some extra motivation for this performance.

Lillard destroyed the Pacers on his way to 35 points on 45 percent shooting. The All-NBA veteran made six 3s before hyping up the home crowd with his signature move. Before getting blown out in Game 1 of the first round, the Indiana Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks in four out of five regular-season matchups including in the final of the inaugural In-Season Tournament.

The Bucks and Pacers have had a heated history this regular season with the Pacers taking "the game ball after Giannis' 64-point career-high" sparking bad blood between the two sides. More analysts thought that the Pacers could pull off the upset since Indiana had been so successful against Milwaukee.

Bucks veteran Malik Beasley even told reporters that a possible playoff series will "not be pretty" in early January. Indiana got demolished by Lillard and company. With such a bad loss, it's worth wondering if the Pacers can bounce back and battle their way into the second round.

Can the Pacers rebound against the Bucks after their blowout loss?

To be quite honest, Indiana needs to fix a lot and extremely quickly if they want to win this series. The franchise has a golden opportunity with Giannis Antetokounmpo possibly being out for Games 2 and 3 but they could be unable to do so if their youth and inexperience keep leading the way. The Bucks are a veteran-led team that in complete fairness wants to destroy Indiana since the upstart Pacers think they are a lot better than Milwaukee.

While the franchise's defense was fine, their shooting was horrible in Game 1. The Pacers shot 39 percent from the field. Their 3-point shooting was even worse — 8-of-31, 21.1 percent. Outside of Pascal Siakam's 36 points on 60 percent shooting, the Pacers did not look ready for the moment. If they aren't able to bring more intensity, urgency and execution, then it could be a very quick one even if Antetokoumpo doesn't compete at all.