Miami Heat take down top seed Milwaukee Bucks to advance to NBA Eastern Conference final
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. â Not much went right on the court for the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Miami Heat.
Their offense wasnât sharp against a strong defense, their defense wasnât there against a solid 3-point shooting team, and MVP Giannis Antetokounmpoâs offensive struggles were exacerbated by a sprained right ankle that forced him to miss basically the final three quarters of Game 4 and all of Game 5.
The Heat eliminated the top-seeded Bucks with a 103-94 victory in Game 5 on Tuesday, a gentlemanâs sweep that is as surprising as it is disappointing for Milwaukee, which had championship aspirations.
âThe most important thing is we have to be who we are,â Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before the game. âWith Giannis or without him, both teams have a pretty good idea of how they want to play. Itâs who can impose their identity for longer stretches and periods of the game. Thatâs what weâre focusing on coming into tonight.â
The Heat were able to do that. Six players scored in double figures, led by Miami All-Star Jimmy Butlerâs 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Goran Dragic added 17 points, and Jae Crowder had 16 points.
Clinging to their playoff lives, the Bucks delivered an admirable effort but just didnât have enough without their MVP to overcome a balanced Heat team.
Khris Middleton had 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Bucks, and Donte DiVincenzo, starting in place of Antetokounmpo, had 17 points.
Antetokounmpo participated in some basic pregame warmups with Budenholzer and the training and medical staff watching.
"Ultimately Jon Horst, our GM, and myself, we couldnât let Giannis go out there," Budenholzer said. "Heâs not ready. Heâs not healthy. We canât put him at risk. Giannis would always play. He wants to be there for his teammates. So really, really hard for Giannis. But I think it was pretty clear from everybody, probably except from his perspective, what needed to happen."
Miami advances to the conference finals for the first time since 2014 when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were with the team. The Heat will play the winner of the Boston-Toronto series, which the Celtics lead 3-2.
Since 1984, the five seed has beaten the one seed four times, and this is the first time it has happened since 2013.
Milwaukee dominated during the regular season, especially before the NBA suspended the season on March 11 due to COVID-19, and finished with the leagueâs best record.
But the bubble was not kind to the Bucks. They were 3-5 in seeding games, lost Game 1 to Orlando in the first round and fell into a 3-0 hole in the second round against Miami.
Budenholzer refused to make excuses.
"Well, the 4Âœ-month layoff for our team wasnât any different than any of the other teams that came here to Orlando to compete and try and be the last team standing," he said. "We had a heck of a year, through March 11, a lot of good things, a lot of positives and when we had our moments here in Orlando. Ultimately, we werenât able to get it done. Everybodyâs dealing with the same circumstances."
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Antetokounmpo, who is the 2019-20 MVP and likely to win his second MVP award soon, wasnât sharp offensively. He averaged 21.8 points, 11 assists and five assists in four games against Miami, shooting 50.8% from the field and 21.45 on 3-pointers. And through three games, he was shooting just 45.1% from the field, way below his regular season average of 55.3%.
Beyond the difficulty of life in the bubble, the Bucks were hit particularly hard by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, just 40 miles south of Milwaukee. They had to reflect and consider what that meant to them.
After Game 4 of the Orlando series and after the Blake shooting, Bucks guard George Hill said, âWe shouldnât have come to this damn place to be honest.â
Then, the Bucks declined to play Game 5 on Aug. 26, putting the remainder of the NBAâs restart in jeopardy. The league took a few days off as players decided to resume play.
"We feel like the entire league, all the players, our team was on the right side of history. And for our group, it was significant," Budenholzer said. "But I think it could if all of a sudden we played well and won a bunch of games, it couldâve been our rallying point. That would probably be the question if we won.
"I think both things are overplayed and overstated. Youâve got to play. Youâve got to defend, youâve got to rebound. Youâve got to take care of the ball. Youâve got to make shots, and youâve got to fight for social justice. Youâve got to fight for things you believe in.
"Certainly we were in the middle of it. It was significant. Itâs just part of life. It couldâve helped. It may have helped us. I know it helped us as humans."
For a combination of reasons, the Bucks never were the same team in the restart. Their momentum in March didnât carry over through a 4Âœ-month layoff, and their season is over sooner than expected.
And yet an emotional Budenholzer saw the big picture and ended his postgame press conference with a poignant statement.
"What the team stands for and I think the character and the humanity to stand and be on the right side of history like we did, led by George and Sterling (Brown), that was emotional," Budenholzer said. "And such a great group. Winning is important. We had high expectations starting the season, throughout the season, coming here. You always want to realize those expectations. But the relationships, the character, what this group did, it would be great if you could have both. But if youâre going to choose one, Iâd like to be with the guys who are high character and stand for something."