• Game 4: Pacers at Bucks, 9:30 p.m., Sunday; TV: TNT

MILWAUKEE — Pacers coach Rick Carlisle wanted to make sure both of his second-year wings stayed ready and were prepared to be called upon in this year’s playoffs, even though in recent weeks he’d been putting more faith and playing time into Jarace Walker.

That was the reason Carlisle said he made a point to get Ben Sheppard on the floor in Game 3 of the Pacers’ first-round NBA Eastern Conference playoff series with the Bucks on Friday after he had been held out of the first two games of the series.

The Pacers lost 117-101, allowing the Bucks to get back into the series down 2-1, but Carlisle didn’t back down from the decision to play Sheppard and indicated there were other personnel reasons to get him on the floor. One was the return of Bucks point guard Damian Lillard, who missed a month with deep vein thrombosis before returning from Game 2. Another was foul trouble for starter Andrew Nembhard.

Sheppard played six minutes in the first half and posted a +6 plus-minus figure, knocking down a 3-pointer on his only field goal attempt. He was 1-of-4 from the floor, 0-of-3 from 3-point range in the second half, but still ended up a net +3 in 15:26 on the floor for the game.

“Time to get him involved,” Carlisle said. “He did some really good things in the first half…. He gives us another guy to chase Lillard around a little bit. Look, we need all hands on deck. We need everybody. Guys are gonna have to be able to come in and possibly play short minutes from time to time to help us with matchups, to help us with rebounding, to help us with spacing. You name it.

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“Shep has always been ready. It was good to see him jump out there and have a good run.”

Sheppard struggled down the stretch at the end of the season averaging 3.8 points per game on 36.1% shooting and 28.3% from 3-point range in the last 19 games of the season. Still, he’s been reliable over the course of two seasons after being taken with the No. 26 overall pick in 2023. He averaged 19.7 minutes per game in last year’s playoffs, scoring 5.2 points per game and making 38% of his 3-pointers.

Of course, that did take away minutes from Walker, the No. 8 pick in the 2023 draft who had a much stronger finish to the season. In 21 games since March 1, Walker averaged 7.5 points per game on 50.4% shooting including 47.6% from 3-point range. In the first two playoff games, he scored just six points but hit a 3-pointer in each game and also grabbed nine rebounds and played decent defense on Giannis Antetokounmpo in short stretches. On Friday, Walker played just 5:50, mostly in garbage time.

DOYEL: Pacers blow their cool and their big lead in Game 3. Did they blow series?

INSIDER: Pacers’ breakdowns let Bucks back into series with unlikely hero

Carlisle made other changes to the rotation, putting out some seldom-used combinations. It’s not clear how many changes were pre-determined and how many were circumstantial, however.

Backup center Thomas Bryant played 21:24 after playing a combined 20 in the first two games because starter Myles Turner was 1-of-9 from the floor and committed four turnovers.

Bennedict Mathurin played under 14 minutes, but 18 points from Aaron Nesmith had something to do with that also.

Carlisle refused to discuss his wider rotation strategy in Game 3.

“Just coaching decisions,” he said.