Milwaukee Bucks: What went wrong against the Miami Heat
No help and no Giannis
It was clear that the Bucks had no help once they had no Giannis. Antetokounmpo went down with an ankle injury in Game 3, and he was questionable at the start of Game 4. Fortunately, the MVP started in Game 4 and scored 19 points in the first half to help his team. However, the Bucks frontman went down before halftime in the second quarter, bumping the injured ankle against Andre Iguodala’s and re-injuring it
The star walked off the court into the locker room. Antetokounmpo could barely stand on two feet. He limped all the way there and the Bucks were left without him for the rest of the night.
It was already a tough series for the Bucks, having gone down 3-0. The difference was that Antetokounmpo stayed in the first two games fully healthy without injury woes. In Games 3 and 4, he could not. Antetokounmpo was confirmed to be out in Game 4 and sat on the sidelines cheering on his team while they scrapped for a win in the series. They had achieved this win in an incredible effort from everyone else.
Middleton helped the Bucks achieve this win with a spectacular all-around performance, playing 47 minutes while posting 35 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Middleton played hero ball late in the game to get the Bucks the win and played it right. Everything he put up seemed to go in and he was confident in his shooting abilities.
It was fun to watch a young player take leadership in such a manner during a critical game, and you could clearly see that he wanted his team to win. Middleton was avoiding elimination in Game 4 and he knew what he had to do for his team. George Hill, Donte DiVincenzo, and Brook Lopez also played exceptional games and helped the team by scoring the right buckets and making the right plays. One example of said play was late in the fourth when Lopez took a three and got fouled by Adebayo.
It was no fun watching the Bucks without Giannis, which became their ultimate fate. Although Game 4 was fun to watch and gave Bucks fans hope, questions still lingered how the Bucks could play without Antetokounmpo.
Game 5 proved that Milwaukee could not play without him. They couldn’t play without his scoring and his interior dominance. Antetokounmpo’s abilities take a good load off of his teammates is trouble for the other teams. It was noticeable that he was missing, and his presence was missed during Game 5, which was the game that sent the Bucks into the offseason.