April 5th, 2008 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in ???????????????????
If there is one person who may be on a mission to see the Indiana Pacers enter the playoffs this season, that person may be Mike Dunleavy; he had another big game, scoring 27 points in leading the Pacers to a narrow 105-101 win over the Milwaukee Bucks Friday at Bradley Center.? The Pacers’ victory pulled them to within 3 games of the Atlanta Hawks, who helped the Pacers’ cause by losing to the Philadelphia 76ers, 109-104.
Indiana had the hot hand early as they outscored Milwaukee 30-22 in the first quarter; Dunleavy’s 3-point play gave the Pacers a 13-point lead late in the second quarter, and they went into halftime leading 53-46.? But Bobby Simmons made a pair of free throws, cutting Indiana’s lead to 77-75, but Dunleavy hit a trey for Indiana with 9:10 left to go.? Dunleavy, who scored 12 points in the fourth period, made a key 3-pointer after the Bucks cut the Pacers’ lead to 84-82; his 2 free throws made it 98-89 with just under 3 minutes to play in the game.? But Milwaukee wasn’t done just yet.
Milwaukee’s Ramon Sessions came off the bench to spark the team with 2 layups and a free throw while Michael Redd made a layup with 11.4 seconds left to cut Indiana’s lead to 3, but a pair of free throws by Dunleavy sealed the win.? Indiana?had 6 players in double-digits, led by the aforementioned Dunleavy with 27 points, including 4 three-pointers, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, but 5 turnovers?while Troy Murphy scored 17 with 3 rebounds and 6 assists; Jeff Foster, while scoring only 9 points, also grabbed 16 rebounds, dished out an assist and blocked 3 shots.
Milwaukee was led by Redd with 28 points, 4 rebounds, an assist and a steal while Andrew Bogut scored 21 with 16 rebounds, an assist, a steal and 3 blocks.? Indiana (32-44) looks to improve their playoff chances as they return home to face these same Bucks on Sunday.
