Heat knocks off top-seeded Bucks to reach East Finals for the 1st time since Big 3 era
Goran Dragic can remember how excited he was when he joined the Miami Heat at the trade deadline in 2015. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were still with the Heat, and Dragic came to Miami with the promise to contend in the Eastern Conference as the third piece of the Heat’s new puzzle.
Only Dragic never got to play in the NBA playoffs with Bosh, whose career ended in 2016 because of blood clots, and he and Wade never got past the second round before Wade left in free agency. Promise faded into rebuilding and the guard spent his first five years in Miami missing the postseason nearly as often as he made it.
Five years after Dragic arrived in South Florida, those rebuilds are officially over. The Heat is headed to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2014 after beating the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, 103-94, on Tuesday to clinch an unlikely series victory against the team with the best regular-season record in the NBA, although the Bucks were without superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo because of an ankle injury.
“It means a lot,” Dragic said. “If I look back, we never had a chance to play with CB. D-Wade — then he left. It was a lot of ups and downs, but I’m happy that we finally made it. We’re still not done. It’s going to be a grind, but so far, so good, so I’m enjoying every game, every day and hopefully we can continue to play like that.”
Dragic was one of six players to score between 12-17 points in Game 5 on Tuesday. He and All-Star wing Jimmy Butler, who joined Miami in the offseason as its biggest free-agent acquisition since LeBron James in 2010, led the way with 17 points apiece and helped clinch the Heat’s 4-1 series victory at Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
Miami advanced to the NBA Conference Finals for the first time since James, Wade and Bosh were all playing together as the “Big 3.” The Heat will face either the Boston Celtics or the Toronto Raptors in the Conference Finals.
“It’s not easy to get to the Conference Finals and our organization knows that,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve been trying desperately to get back to the Conference Finals. It’s not our ultimate goal, we get it, but you can still acknowledge the journey and how hard it is just to get to this point.”
Miami is just the second No. 5 seed to advance to the Conference Finals since 2000, joining the Memphis Grizzlies in 2013. The San Antonio Spurs swept the Grizzlies in those Western Conference Finals.
While Antetokounmpo didn’t play in Game 5 because of a sprained right ankle, the Heat handled Milwaukee throughout the second round of the playoffs even when the forward was on the court.
The Heat outscored the Bucks by 32 points when the All-Star was on the court and Milwaukee’s only win in the series came when Antetokounmpo, a finalist for the 2020 NBA Most Valuable Player Award, went down in Game 4 and the Bucks rallied for an overtime win.
Without its star, Milwaukee started Tuesday the same way it finished Sunday. The Bucks ran out four-guard lineups and blitzed Miami’s starters. Milwaukee charged out to a 28-15 lead on a three-pointer by Kyle Korver with 1:04 left in the first quarter as the Heat committed first-quarter turnovers, and the Heat was outscored by 11 when All-Star forwards Bam Adebayo and Butler were on the court.
The bench finally steadied Miami. Dragic beat the buzzer at the end of the first quarter, and then Spoelstra turned to his reserves to start the second quarter and the comeback began.
The Heat staged a 22-7 run and finally took the lead when Butler curled around a screen and hit a three to put Miami up 37-35 with 6:53 left in the second. After All-Star wing Khris Middleton made a layup for Milwaukee, three bench players — rookie guards Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn, and post player Kelly Olynyk — uncorked a quick 8-0 run to stretch the Heat’s lead out to 45-37 with an extended 30-9 run.
In the first half, Miami’s bench outscored the Bucks’, 22-6. In the full game, the Heat’s reserves outscored Milwaukee’s, 38-19.
Miami never trailed again after pushing ahead in the second quarter, and Herro and Butler steered the Heat to victory.
Herro scored eight of his 14 points in the second half and dished out four of his six assists. He also blocked a shot in the fourth quarter to help stymie a final Bucks push and then he let Butler ice the win.
The wing finished with 17 points, a team-high 10 rebounds and six assists, and he scored or assisted on eight of the Heat’s last 10 points before intentional fouls began to complete the upset.
“We’re very confident, but we don’t want to be too confident,” Butler said. “We know either way it goes, we’ve got a really good team that we’ve got to play against, but we still have to play our style of basketball. We’re not discouraged, we’re not scared, we’re not running from any matchups and I think that’s what makes us us.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 9:23 PM.
