Milwaukee Bucks: What went wrong against the Miami Heat
Better team
If the Heat aren’t better than the Bucks, they sure played like it. This is an old trick, also. When you’re up against a team with the best record, you have no choice but to play your best basketball regardless of what the other team wants or is trying to do.
The Heat weren’t focused on regular-season records and the other playbooks that could or could not help them once the playoffs started. Once the playoffs started, they upped the ante as good teams do.
Having swept the Indiana Pacers in the first round, the Heat were on a roll. They had confidence, they were playing well and they had advanced past the first round. This was the goal and is the goal for all teams in the playoffs: to play confident, to play well,and advance.
The Heat played well and they played together. Their core group was better than Milwaukee’s core. Herro and Robinson were shooting the ball every second and Dragic and Butler were passing it to them. Adebayo and Crowder got in on the scoring effort. So did Kelly Olynyk, who gave Lopez problems in Game 5. Butler and Dragic would then also lead in the scoring on some nights.
They threw the Bucks, who relied too heavily on their regular-season success and played too comfortable, for a loop. It was just too much heat and the Bucks didn’t have an answer. The combination of scorers and shooters along with playing as a team is what killed the Bucks.
The Heat met the Bucks earlier in the bubble, and they almost came out victorious before Milwaukee ultimately climbed back and took the victory at the end. What this game showed, though, was how good Miami was, even without Butler. They were leading by as many as 20 and their scoring couldn’t be stopped. The Bucks were obviously struggling and looked confused on how to contain them, how to guard them and how to score against them.
Everything they tried seemed to fail. It’s like if you were trying to get somewhere and ran into a brick wall. The Bucks managed to pull themselves together enough to play hero ball without much help from Antetokounmpo.