There’s definitely no reason to panic if you’re a Bucks fan…yet. The Milwaukee Bucks suffered a big blow in their title quest as they lost Game 1 130-117 to the Miami Heat as Giannis Antetokounmpo left the game early with a back injury.
Like I said in the intro, the Bucks are pigeonholing themselves into a must-win situation really early on in these playoffs if they don’t win the next game.
The #1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks suffered their first big blow of the postseason yet as they lost Game 1 to the Miami Heat 130-117 after MVP-finalist Giannis Antetokounmpo left the game in the first quarter with a lower back contusion after playing just 11 minutes. And, with Jimmy Butler absolutely going off for 35 PTS, 11 REB, and 5 AST to prove his “Playoff Jimmy” nickname still holds true, it’s perfectly reasonable for every Bucks fan to fear a crazy upset victory for Miami.
Aside from Kris Middleton (33 PTS, 9 REB, 4 AST), nobody on the Bucks played particularly well as only Bobby Portis, who started the game on the bench, broke the 20-point mark in 48 minutes of action.
Jrue Holiday went for just 6/18 from the field and 2/9 from the 3-point line for 16 PTS (though, he did have 16 assists), Grayson Allen had just 12 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST, and Bro0ks Lopez was pretty much dormant offensively as he had just 10 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, and just 1 offensive rebound.
Sure, these would be passable stats if Giannis was in the lineup as he would have put up at least 20 points on his own, but they obviously weren’t enough to beat a hyped-up 8th seeded Heat, who also unfortunately lost a star, Tyler Herro, from a broken hand right in the first half.
The Bucks needed all of these guys to step up and score more than what was expected of them as the loss of Giannis not only took away his guaranteed 20+ points off the board, but it also allowed Heat coach Erik Spoelstra to spread out his defense and actually guard the perimeter against the likes of Joe Ingles (9 PTS, 0 REB, 2 AST, 42.9% FG, 42.9% 3P%), Allen, and Holiday.
I guarantee if Giannis never got injured, the Bucks would have won this game because the Heat wouldn’t have been able to guard the perimeter so well (Bucks finished with just 11/45 made 3-pointers) as they were putting three guys inside just to stop Giannis. Obviously, that’s how vital the Greek Freak is for this Bucks team.
However, whether the Bucks had Giannis or not, they need to shut down Jimmy Butler and the Heat’s permitter scoring way more effectively if they want a chance to win their 2nd NBA title in 3 seasons. Not only did Butler score 35 PTS for himself on 55.6% FG shooting 915/27, but the Heat as a team also shot an astonishing 60% from beyond the arc!
Tyler Herro (13 PTS, 2 REB, 2 AST) went 2/4 from 3 before his injury, Caleb Martin (15 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST) went 2/3, the rejuvenated Kevin Love (18 PTS, 8 REB, 1 AST) went 4/7 from downtown, Max Strus (8 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST) was 2/4, and Gabe Vincent (15 PTS, 2 REB, 6 AST) was 4/5.
Yeah, the Bucks actually put up more shot attempts in both FG (91 Bucks attempts vs. 84 Heat attempts) and 3-pointers (45 Bucks attempts vs. 25 Heat attempts), but the Heat were utterly ruthless in putting the ball through the hoop.
I don’t care if you have a roster of Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neale, Tim Duncan, and LeBron James, let alone a Bucks roster that is rather weak without Giannis heavily involved, they’ll be hard pressed to beat a team putting up 59.5% shooting from the field and 60% shooting from the 3-point line.
If the Bucks want to avoid an embarrassing upset, then they HAVE to shut down Miami’s perimeter scoring or else they’re screwed.
As for the Heat, all I have to say for them is…just keeping doing what you did.
Yeah, Giannis was out injured for the vast majority of the game, but the Heat were actually winning 31-23 by the time Giannis entered the locker room, and they ended up winning 3/4 quarters (1st: 33-24; 2nd: 35-31; 3rd: 34-33) over the Bucks.
As long as Jimmy Butler continues to be an utter menace within the paint and their perimeter scoring has just a 50% success rate (let alone the 60% they put up yesterday), I think they have a great chance of at least taking this series to 6 or 7 games. Hell, they could even win the series outright if they take another game in Milwaukee before GM 7 and win just 2/3 on home court.
This is going to be such an exciting series!
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