Takeaways from Heat’s series-clinching win, and a look at what’s next in conference finals
Five takeaways from the fifth-seeded Miami Heat’s 103-94 win over the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday at Walt Disney World to clinch a trip to the Eastern Conference finals. The Heat won the second-round series 4-1 to eliminate the Bucks:
Next up for the Heat is probably some time off before facing either the Boston Celtics or Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference finals.
“It means a lot,” Heat All-Star and leading man Jimmy Butler said of advancing to the conference finals. “That’s not my goal, that’s not my guys’ goal, it’s not this organization’s goal. We want to win it. I want a championship. I think that’s what we’re focused on. These next eight are going to be much harder than the previous eight, we know that. But we’re ready for it.”
The Heat clinched its first appearance in the conference finals since 2014 on Tuesday, but there’s still work to be done on the other side of the East bracket. Miami is the first team in the league to punch its ticket to the conference finals.
The Celtics hold a 3-2 second-round series lead over the Raptors. Boston will have a chance to win the series in Game 6 on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m, with Game 7 set to be played Friday if Toronto can extend the series.
If the Celtics close their second-round series Wednesday, a Miami-Boston conference finals could theoretically begin as soon as Friday.
But according to a league source, as of now, the Eastern Conference finals are not expected to begin until Tuesday because the NBA does not want to stagger the start of the conference finals. Only three games have been played in each Western Conference second-round series as of Tuesday night.
That means the Heat could have a full week off after finishing its second-round series Tuesday night. Miami also had a full week off following its first-round sweep of the Indiana Pacers before beginning its series against the Bucks.
Considering a few of the Heat’s rotation players — Jae Crowder (left ankle sprain), Tyler Herro (right hip bruise) and Kelly Olynyk (right knee bruise) — have been dealing with nagging injuries, the time off will help. Crowder, Herro and Olynyk were all questionable for Game 5, but they all played Tuesday.
This marks the Heat’s eighth appearance in the conference finals during Pat Riley’s 25 seasons with the organization.
“It’s not easy to get to the conference finals and our organization knows that,” Heat 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. That is why we brought Jimmy Butler here. That is why we put this team together with the veterans, adding Andre [Iguodala] and Jae. Building around Goran [Dragic] and Bam [Adebayo], and having a young core was to try to do something in the playoffs.
“It’s not easy to get to the conference finals. Otherwise every team would be doing it. And we’ve been at this for 25 years under the Riley-Arison leaderhip. We’ve tried every single year to just get to this level.”
Tuesday’s first quarter was ugly for Miami. But in the end, the Giannis-less Bucks just didn’t have enough offense to keep up with the Heat for a full 48 minutes.
It marked the first postseason game the Bucks have played without reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo since 2013. Antetokounmpo missed Game 5 after re-injuring his sprained right ankle in Game 4.
The Giannis-less Bucks started strong and led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter. The Heat committed six turnovers in the opening period.
“We were flying around. It was like we were going 1,000 miles per hour,” Spoelstra said of Miami’s messy start. “You could see it on the defensive end. But offensively, you could just see a little bit of anxiousness. It’s from a good place. Our guys really want this. Guys really want to play well for each other and our guys knew what was at stake tonight. They really wanted to get this win.”
Milwaukee just didn’t have enough offense to keep up with Miami, even as the Heat finished with 22 turnovers Tuesday.
The Bucks scored 94 points on 36.3 percent shooting from the field and 9 of 33 shooting on threes. After Milwaukee’s fast start, it scored 66 points on 31.9 percent shooting from the field over the final three quarters.
“In the second half, it was pretty ugly,” Spoelstra said. “So the game was in the mud. At least we were able to defend at a pretty high level. The offense was pretty spotty most of the second half.”
Without Antetokounmpo, the Bucks turned to its second All-Star to carry their offense. But forward Khris Middleton followed up his huge 36-point performance in Game 4 with an inefficient night on Tuesday, finishing with 23 points on 8-of-25 shooting, seven rebounds and six assists in 42 minutes.
Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe struggled with nine points on 2-of-12 shooting.
The Heat posted a quality defensive rating of 94.9 in Game 5.
Miami has recorded the fourth-best defensive rating in the playoffs, allowing 105.4 points per 100 possessions. For a group that was mediocre on that end of the court for most of the regular season, this improvement is a big reason behind the Heat’s 8-1 start to the postseason.
It’s also worth noting the Heat won six of its eight games against the Bucks this season. Miami was just simply the better team in this matchup, whether Milwaukee had Antetokounmpo or not.
“We match up well, especially if you have Bam, Jimmy and Jae,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said. “You can put those guys on Giannis and try to make the game tougher for them, and we did that. So we were full of confidence and now to the next series.”
In an interview with Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes following the season-ending loss, Antetokounmpo was asked about the possibility of requesting a trade this offseason.
“It’s not happening. That’s not happening,” Antetokounmpo said to Haynes. “Some see a wall and go in [another direction]. I plow through it. We just have to get better as a team, individually and get right back at it next season.”
Antetokounmpo is eligible for a super-max extension this offseason that is expected to be worth around $254 million over five years. If he doesn’t sign the extension, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent in 2021 who the Heat will pursue with the max-level cap space it’s expected to have.
Miami’s bench, specifically Tyler Herro and Kelly Olynyk, was a difference-maker in Game 5.
After the Heat’s bench combined to score just 17 points in Sunday’s loss, it outscored the Bucks’ reserves 38-19 on Tuesday.
Herro and Olynyk led Miami’s bench effort.
Herro finished with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, eight rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block in 37 minutes. The 20-year-old posted a team-best plus/minus of plus-23.
“I live for the big moments. I want the big moment,” said Herro, who scored eight points in the second half. “My teammates and coaches trust me. They feed life into me. But that’s what we work for as players — the big moments, and I love being on the big stage.”
Olynyk finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting and six rebounds in 17 minutes. He was a plus-22.
Heat reserves Andre Iguodala and Kendrick Nunn also contributed quality minutes.
Iguodala was solid defensively as usual, recording six points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks in 18 minutes. He was a plus-nine.
Nunn finished with six points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in 22 minutes. He was a plus-14.
Miami needed this type of game from its bench Tuesday, with its starting lineup of Dragic, Duncan Robinson, Butler, Crowder and Bam Adebayo finishing Game 5 as a minus-12.
But Butler still finished with team-highs in points (17), rebounds (10) and assists (6).
As good as the Heat’s defense and bench were, turnovers were an issue Tuesday. An issue that almost cost Miami.
The Heat finished Game 5 with 22 turnovers, and the Bucks scored 23 points off those mistakes.
With the Bucks’ offense struggling in the half court, scoring off of turnovers proved to be Milwaukee’s most efficient offense Tuesday. The Bucks actually finished with 18 more shot attempts than the Heat, which is usually very difficult to overcome.
Adebayo and Butler each committed five turnovers.
The 22 turnovers are tied for the fourth-most the Heat has ever finished a playoff game with. Miami was 1-3 when committing 22 or more turnovers in a postseason game before Tuesday’s victory.
The Heat has averaged 14.8 turnovers in the playoffs.
“I don’t think so,” Butler said when asked if the Heat has played its best basketball in the playoffs. “I don’t think we’ve played a full 48-minute game yet. And that’s what promising, is that if we do lock in and decide to play from start to finish the way that we’re capable of and the way we’re supposed to, I think the game would be a lot easier. We got to have it happen in the next round.”
It was a memorable night for Adebayo. The Heat’s All-Star center also learned Tuesday that he was voted onto his first NBA All-Defensive team.
Adebayo, who finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting this season, was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. The 6-9 and 255-pound Adebayo is the first Heat player to earn a spot on an NBA All-Defensive team since Hassan Whiteside was voted to the second team for the 2015-16 season.
The NBA’s All-Defensive teams were announced just minutes before the start of Tuesday’s night game between the Heat and Bucks. Adebayo finished Game 5 with 13 points, six rebounds and two assists.
The All-Defensive First Team included Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons, Celtics guard Marcus Smart, Antetokounmpo, Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis and Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert.
The All-Defensive Second Team included Bledsoe, Los Angeles Clippers guard Patrick Beverley, Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, Adebayo and Bucks center Brook Lopez.
Players were awarded two points for each vote to the NBA All-Defensive First Team and one point for each vote to the Second Team in the media balloting that was concluded prior to the NBA’s late-July restart at Disney.
Adebayo received seven first-team votes and 47 second-team votes.
Butler finished as the second runner-up among forwards for a spot on the All-Defensive Second Team, with one first-team vote and 26 second-team votes. Adebayo and Butler were the only Heat players to receive votes.
The only Heat players in franchise history who have been selected for the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team are Alonzo Mourning (1998-99, 1999-00) and LeBron James (2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13).
Adebayo joins previous Heat second-team All-Defensive selections P.J. Brown (1996-97, 1998-99), Bruce Bowen (2000-01), Dwyane Wade (2004-05, 2008-09, 2009-10), James (2013-14) and Whiteside.
This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 11:36 PM.
