Nine months after the Milwaukee Bucks had their bubble burst by the Miami Heat last postseason, the Bucks have relentlessly claimed gratifying revenge by sweeping the sixth-seeded Heat in the first-round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs following a 120-103 masterful Game 4 victory.
Milwaukee wasted no time during this series, annihilating and tearing apart the Heat’s identity while embarrassing the so-called “Heat culture.” As the reigning back-to-back MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo stated, “There’s a saying, don’t play with your food. We didn’t want to play with our food.”
As the Bucks closed out the series in South Beach on Saturday afternoon, Antetokounmpo finished with 20 points, 15 assists, and 12 rebounds as he recorded his first career playoff triple-double and became just the third Buck to produce a triple-double in postseason franchise history. “We kept our composure, we kept moving the ball, we kept defending, and we were able to get a win,” Antetokounmpo said.
Throughout the entire series, the Bucks played with superior confidence, intensity, energy, togetherness, and ultimately found their comfort level. On both ends of the floor, they executed head coach Mike Budenholzer’s game plan to perfection.
Offensively, they continuously found ways to dissect Miami’s well-respected defense, and consistently disrupted the flow of their swift, motion offense on the defensive end. Game 1 was an outlier as the Bucks shot just 16.1 percent from 3-point range compared to 40.0 percent from the Heat, but still escaped with a resilient 109-107 overtime win behind 56 points in the paint while outrebounding them 64-51.
Controlling the interior was a commonplace for the Bucks throughout this matchup, and proved to be a major factor within the scheme and personnel involved. In Game 2, they put it all together by scoring 46 points in the paint, outrebounding the Heat 61-36, and also shooting 41.5 percent from beyond the arc en route to a 132-98 blowout victory.
Milwaukee never looked back from there, stepping on their throats in a similar way during the 113-84 Game 3 win, and then wrapping it up in Game 4 to sweep the series 4-0.
The Heat were absolutely exposed outside the bubble this time around, but give credit to this much improved, more versatile Bucks team for adjusting properly and strengthening the majority of their weaknesses from last season’s blunders. Miami’s stars, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, were nonexistent for the most part, and Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro were unable to find a consistent rhythm like they did in the bubble.
Following a dominant stretch of performances from the Milwaukee Bucks to sweep the Miami Heat, let’s dive into 3 takeaways from this first-round series.
As the Milwaukee Bucks will likely receive a week of rest before facing the No. 2 seed Brooklyn Nets in what should be an exhilarating, heavyweight second-round matchup, let’s pick out three takeaways from their first-round demolition over the Miami Heat.
Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from dominant sweep over Heat – Each Buck continues to maximize role throughout postseason
Avenging the Heat in steamrolling fashion was a complete team effort for the Milwaukee Bucks with every single impact player consistently thriving in their respective role. Each Buck in the rotation seemed to maximize their role, which led to efficient execution and comfortable composure that brought out the best of them.
As previously written about, Jrue Holiday was the MVP for the Bucks in this series with his two-way abilities and poise to take control. Holiday averaged 15.3 points, 9.8 assists, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game with an astonishing overall plus/minus of plus-98 (team-high by far) during the sweep, and Miami just never had an answer for limiting his impact.
Khris Middleton was the hero in Game 1, hitting the game-winner with 0.5 seconds left in overtime, and didn’t stop knocking down shots from there. Middleton kept shooting with great confidence and averaged 21.5 points per game on 49.2/40.7/89.5 shooting splits throughout the series. He’s a gifted, still underrated scorer and playmaker too, and that was on full display against the Heat.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was much more decisive against Miami’s defensive wall compared to last season, which was one of the big storylines entering this matchup. Antetokounmpo’s patience, ball distribution, and defense on Jimmy Butler were the highlights of his overall performance this series rather than his scoring. Milwaukee’s superstar forward only averaged 23.5 points per game as he struggled to shoot from outside the paint, but also tallied 7.8 assists per game, including that playoff career-high 15 assists in Game 4, and gathered 15.0 rebounds per game.
Despite Giannis not coming close to his regular-season average of 28.1 points per game, he did everything else to make plays for his teammates while his threatful presence still caused plenty of problems for the Heat. When Miami would send help-defenders to form that wall as he penetrated toward the rim, Antetokounmpo’s improved decisiveness allowed him to patiently find his open teammate instead of trying to go right through it like previous years. Evidently, guys like Middleton and Bryn Forbes were able to take advantage of that by nailing those open 3’s that Giannis would create for them. It was an excellent recipe for success offensively.
While Antetokounmpo’s presence was dominant in the paint on both ends of the floor, his front court mate may have been even more impressive. Brook Lopez absolutely maximized his role against Miami by aggressively affecting shots, owning the glass, and scoring in the paint at a highly efficient rate. Game 4 was a perfect example of his impact as he dropped a game-high 25 points on 73.3 percent field goals, grabbed eight rebounds (3 offensive rebounds), and rejected two shots.
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Other than Milwaukee’s star trio, Brook Lopez was the main difference maker in this first-round series. He’ll continue to play a massive role for the Bucks and how they operate within their schemes moving forward.
The secret weapon for the Bucks was Bryn Forbes, but he’s no secret anymore. Forbes lit it up against Miami, most notably scoring 22 points behind 6 3’s in Game 2 and draining 7 3’s to drop 22 points again in Game 4. In fact, he outscored Jimmy Butler 60-58 in this series while playing significantly less minutes. Forbes has identified himself as a certified flamethrower on the playoff stage, which is exactly what his role should consist of off the bench.
We could go on and on about the other role players on the Bucks that all influenced this series such as the energy and relentlessness of Bobby Portis, the toughness, communication, and magnificent defense of P.J. Tucker, and some of the key plays that Pat Connaughton made, but it’s pretty clear how each man in Milwaukee’s rotation maximized their expected role. As a result, it was no surprise to see the Bucks obliterate Miami in this series.
The ankle injury of Donte DiVincenzo that will sideline him for the rest of the playoffs will be a huge loss, especially in a series against Brooklyn, so these role players must continue to maximize their role if the Bucks want to reach the ultimate goal of an NBA championship. Each Buck certainly did just that throughout the satisfactory sweep of the Heat.
Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from dominant sweep over Heat – Mike Budenholzer put together an impressive coaching display
To great relief of Bucks fans, head coach Mike Budenholzer rose to the occasion with his adjustments and game plan throughout the series. Bud outcoached Miami’s Erik Spoelstra after easily losing the coaching battle last postseason, so it’s safe to say that the tables were severely turned.
It’s no secret that pressure was mounting on Budenholzer to be better heading into these playoffs, and there’s no doubt that he stepped up and passed the first key test that came his way. With his job reportedly on the line, Bud was very impressive in the first-round.
In the past, Budenholzer seemed to have a habit of being too stubborn to play his best players more in the playoffs, made questionable rotational decisions, and wouldn’t make the proper adjustments in favor of sticking to his traditional system. Well, none of that occurred against the Heat this postseason.
The Bucks experimented with different tactics all season up to this point and it’s definitely paid off. Budenholzer came out of his traditional mindset to try other strategies, and he’s putting all the puzzle pieces together now to make the most out of his personnel during this crucial playoff run thus far.
WIth these new additions that general manager Jon Horst and the Milwaukee front office acquired this season, specifically Holiday and Tucker to help the team become more open-minded within their schemes, the Bucks have become much more versatile, especially defensively.
Bud has utilized more switching when defending screens, shifting above screens to run players off the 3-point line, and even some zone tactics to combine with the usual drop coverage scheme. It has worked tremendously with the many different combinations that the Bucks can employ to cause discomfort upon opponents.
Credit should also be given to Budenholzer for improving an offense that was already elite. He’s done a fabulous job of implementing the new “dunker spot,” which has created more opportunities for Antetokounmpo, easy baskets, and offensive rebounds due to the spacing. The Bucks averaged a league-best and franchise-record 120.1 points per game during the regular-season and have had stretches where the offense has looked unstoppable. It was showcased against the Heat as they averaged 118.5 points per game during the sweep.
It’s a great sign for the Milwaukee Bucks that Mike Budenholzer has been very impressive with his adjustments, schemes, and decision-making through the first-round of the playoffs.
Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from dominant sweep over Heat – The time is now for the Milwaukee Bucks to win the NBA championship
Based on the precise way that the Milwaukee Bucks have played over the last few games, this improved, dog-mentality squad looks like a championship-worthy team. It’s difficult to argue against that following the thrashing sweep of a Miami Heat team that made the NBA Finals last year.
If there was ever a time for a small market team like Milwaukee it win it all, the time is now. This is their window, and they have formed arguably the best roster that the organization has ever assembled. With each impact player in the eight-man or possibly nine-man rotation (depending on whether Jeff Teague gets the call) maximizing their role on a consistent basis and with Mike Budenholzer evolving into a trustworthy floor coach, the Bucks have what it takes to reach the ultimate goal despite the loss of DiVincenzo.
Needless to say, this is a completely different Bucks team than years past. The physical nature and mentality in that locker room right now looks prepared for any challenge. After all, co-owner Marc Lasry publicly confirmed that the Bucks didn’t tank the last few games of the regular-season to rest players because they wanted that rematch with the Heat.
There’s obviously a long way to go and still a tough path ahead of them that will likely include going through Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and then whomever comes out of the Western Conference, but Milwaukee has proved to be one dangerous team out there that seems ready for all the smoke and are only going to keep getting better.
“We got a long ways to go. It’s the first round of the playoffs,” Budenholzer said. “And I think there’s gotta be a humility, a humbleness, an attitude or a mindset to get better.”
The Bucks are currently the hottest team in the league after making a serious statement in the first-round over Miami, and they’ll look to carry on that momentum moving forward in these playoffs with high aspirations. As the Milwaukee Bucks have emphasized throughout the entire season, this team is progressing toward history in the making.