INDIANAPOLIS — The Milwaukee Bucks received some good news Thursday on the progress of All-Star guard Damian Lillard and his deep vein thrombosis diagnosis. Lillard is no longer taking blood-thinning medication, which means he could potentially return during the Bucks’ first-round series against Indiana.

Though Lillard has been ruled out for Game 1 this weekend, the Pacers spent the week preparing to face him and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Pacers earned the No. 6 seed last season and defeated the Bucks and New York Knicks on the way to the Eastern Conference finals, where they lost to the eventual champion Boston Celtics.

This season, the Pacers once again start things off against the Bucks. Coach Rick Carlisle said the team struck a balance in practice, planning out what they need to do and how to handle Milwaukee’s stars.

“​​Probably a little bit more toward what we need to do, but we’re spending a lot of time on dealing with their great players in a lot of different scenarios,” Carlisle said. “You can’t show guys like (Antetokounmpo) and Lillard a steady diet of anything, because they’ll adjust and they’ll chop it up. So there’s a lot to do to prepare, but it’s been a good week and I’m grateful that we get to jump right in as the first game.”

While it’s a priority to stop all of Milwaukee’s key players, Antetokounmpo is a primary focus. But what’s the key to stopping or slowing down Antetokounmpo?

“Just showing him a crowd, making every shot tough. We’re ready for anything, small ball, big ball, we’re ready to play whatever we need to to get the win,” Obi Toppin said. “We all have a lot of trust in coach and the decisions that he makes, and we trust that he’s gonna make the right decision. I feel like everybody’s just really ready to get out there and play. We’ve been studying these guys for like a week now, and I feel like we’re well-prepared.”

The Pacers seemed to refocus in mid-December after their early-season struggles, finishing the regular season with nine wins in their last 10 games. The team found its footing and made a push for the playoffs, emerging as one of the league’s best teams. Since Jan. 1, Indiana has posted the NBA’s fourth-best record at 34-14.

“It was like a week that we had off or something for the in-season tournament, and we had a couple practices that got us back on track,” Toppin said. “And ever since then, we just locked in. We knew where we had to be and where we wanted to go to get to the playoffs, and what it took to get here. So we just put in the extra work.”

Indiana will have home-court advantage in the playoffs for the first time since 2014 after winning 50 games and earning the fourth seed. The Pacers finished the regular season 29-11 at home, where they were also 6-0 over the first two rounds of last season’s playoffs.

“I’m excited to hoop. Same matchup as last year. The difference is home-court advantage this year. Excited to play in front of our fans to start it off,” Andrew Nembhard said. “I think every game we played in the playoffs last year at home was a huge advantage. Just going on those runs, having the crowd behind you, gives you the energy you need.”

In addition to spending the week working on how to contain a familiar foe, Indiana’s focus seems to be on its mental approach.

“That mindset is you have to go in and attack this,” said Thomas Bryant, who has championship experience as a member of the 2023 Denver Nuggets. “There’s no kind of getting into it or lackadaisical. It’s the preparation that we put in day in and day out, and we have to go out there and execute it to the best of our abilities from start to finish. It’s a blessing to play in the playoffs in order to try and win a championship for your team right there. So it’s the attributes of trying to win a championship that motivate you to just try and stay on point with everything that we do.”

For Carlisle, who is in his fifth season with the Pacers, it’s about staying in the moment.

“It’s a process thing, and you gotta go whistle to whistle, timeout to timeout,” Carlisle said. “Can’t get ahead of yourself and think about results. There are so many wild swings in playoff games that we’ve got to keep it an even temperament and maintain a level of intensity.”

Game 1 against the Bucks is Saturday at 1 p.m. ET in Indianapolis.

(Photo: Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)