Takeaways and reaction from Heat’s ugly Game 2 loss to Bucks. What went wrong and what now?
Five takeaways from the sixth-seeded Miami Heat’s 132-98 blowout loss to the third-seeded Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum on Monday in Game 2. Milwaukee holds a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 first-round playoff series:
After producing their worst three-point shooting performance in nearly three years in Game 1, the Bucks bounced back with a historic offensive display to dominate the Heat in Game 2.
Milwaukee overcame an uncharacteristically poor 5-of-31 shooting performance from deep to earn a two-point overtime win in Game 1. It represented Milwaukee’s lowest three-point percentage in a game since making 14.3 percent of its outside shots in a Jan. 14, 2018 loss to Miami.
But it took less than eight minutes for the the Bucks to hit their fifth three of Game 2. Milwaukee shot an incredible 10 of 15 on threes in Monday’s first quarter.
The barrage of early threes had the Heat chasing the Bucks from the start, as Milwaukee outscored Miami 46-20 in the first quarter. That 26-point advantage is tied for the largest lead after the opening quarter in NBA playoff history.
The Bucks’ 46 points, 18 made field goals and 10 made threes in the opening period of Game 2 are the most the Heat has allowed in any quarter in franchise playoff history. It’s also tied for the most made threes in a quarter in NBA playoff history.
“They were just hitting a lot of shots and they got the crowd into it,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “Once you hit a couple and the crowd gets into it, it starts to look like an ocean.”
The Bucks scored 78 points while shooting 30 of 53 (56.6 percent) from the field and 15 of 29 (51.7 percent) on threes in the first half. It marked the most points, made field goals and made threes the Heat has allowed in any half in franchise playoff history.
With the help of that historic first half, the Bucks scored 132 points and shot 22 of 53 from three-point range in the win. It’s the most points and made threes the Heat has ever given up in a playoff game.
After winning the first quarter by 26 points, the Bucks didn’t completely dominate the rest of the way but did enough to prevent the Heat from making a big run. Milwaukee outscored Miami 86-78 during the final three quarters.
The Bucks pulled ahead by 21 points with 10:09 remaining in the second quarter and led by 20 or more points for the rest of the game. Milwaukee led by as many as 36 points.
The 34-point loss is the second-most lopsided in Heat playoff history. The worst postseason loss in franchise history is a 36-point defeat to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals.
Bucks two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was a force, finishing with 31 points on 12-of-23 shooting, 13 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Reserve guard Bryn Forbes was a major factor off the bench with 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting on threes.
Heat star Jimmy Butler’s message to the Heat after Game 2?
“That’s it’s never that bad,” Butler said. “We never said it’s all good either. We know what we have to do better. The bright spot is I don’t think we could play any worse.”
The Heat’s offense, led by Adebayo and Butler, continues to look out of whack against the Bucks’ paint-packing defense.
Miami set a new franchise playoff record with 20 made threes in Game 1, but still scored just 107 points on an inefficient 36.4 percent shooting from the field.
In Game 2, the Heat made a relatively efficient amount of shots at the rim — 17 of 24 (70.8 percent) — but struggled from everywhere else. Miami shot 5 of 16 (31.3 percent) on non-rim paint looks, 3 of 14 (21.4 percent) on mid-range opportunities and 8 of 28 (28.6 percent) on threes.
As a result, the Heat shot just 40.2 percent from the field on Monday.
Adebayo (16 points, three rebounds and four assists) and Butler (10 points, two rebounds and four assists) totaled just 26 points on 9-of-21 (42.3 percent) shooting in Game 2. In Game 1, they totaled 26 points on 8-of-37 (21.6 percent) shooting.
Adebayo, who the Bucks are sagging off of and daring to shoot midrange jumpers, and Butler, who the Bucks are primarily guarding with Antetokounmpo, combined to average 40 points per game in the regular season.
The Bucks’ defensive scheme is built to make things tough around the rim and force teams to make an efficient amount of above-the-break threes and mid-range shots to beat them.
So far in this series, the Heat hasn’t been able to do that.
Miami has shot 11 of 31 (35.5 percent) on non-rim paint shots, 7 of 32 (21.9 percent) on midrange attempts and 22 of 63 (34.9 percent) on above-the-break threes in the first two games.
During last year’s second-round playoff series against the Bucks, the Heat shot an efficient 49.3 percent on non-rim paint opportunities, 45.8 percent on midrange jumpers and 40.3 percent on above-the break-threes.
Another issue the Heat has to clean up? Rebounding.
Milwaukee outrebounded Miami 61-36 in Game 2. Part of that was the Bucks having more rebounding opportunities because of all the Heat’s missed shots.
The more disappointing number is the 21 offensive rebounds that the Bucks finished with, including six from Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee took advantage of those opportunities to score 23 second-chance points.
“That’s got to change, period,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Heat’s rebounding issues.
“There’s a lot of different layers to it. But the first part of it is a physicality aspect when the ball goes up, ball in the air, ball on the floor. We have to be much better.”
The Heat scored 20 second-chance points on nine offensive rebounds.
The Bucks’ offensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of available offensive rebounds a team grabs) of 44.9 percent in Game 2 is alarmingly high. The Heat will certainly need to limit those extra chances moving forward to have a chance of extending the series.
Reserve center Dewayne Dedmon was pretty much the lone bright spot for the Heat in Game 2.
Dedmon scored nine of the Heat’s first 14 points on Monday, finishing the loss with a team-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting and nine rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. The veteran big man even made a three with the Bucks playing off of him in their usual drop coverage to protect the paint.
“I thought he gave us quality minutes,” Spoelstra said of Dedmon. “His energy, you feel it on both ends of the court. He finds himself in the right spot around the ball quite often.”
With Dedmon producing, Spoelstra played him alongside Adebayo for extended minutes for the first time since Dedmon signed with the Heat as a free agent on April 8. The Heat was outscored by two points in the eight minutes that Adebayo and Dedmon played together in Game 2.
With Dedmon logging more minutes than usual and playing alongside Adebayo, starting forward Trevor Ariza was limited to just 19 minutes on Monday. Ariza finished scoreless and missed each of his three three-point shot attempts.
In Game 1, Ariza played 39 minutes and Dedmon played 12 minutes.
The Heat now returns home for the next two games, but not in the position it was hoping to be in. NBA teams, including Miami, have historically not fared well when falling behind 2-0 in a playoff series.
The Heat holds a 1-8 all-time record in playoff series that it has lost the first two games in.
The only time Miami rebounded from a 2-0 hole to win a playoff series was in the 2006 Finals, when the Heat responded with four consecutive wins over the Dallas Mavericks to win the championship series 4-2. A young Dwyane Wade led that memorable rally.
Another stat that shows just how hard it is to overcome a 2-0 hole in the playoffs: Entering this postseason, NBA teams that have won the first two games of a best-of-seven series have won the series 93.4 percent of the time (297-21).
“We’re down 0-2,” Butler said. “I’m excited because we get the opportunity to find what myself and my teammates are made out. We get an opportunity to play again and get it to 2-1.”
Game 3 of the series is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at AmericanAirlines Arena (Bally Sports Sun, TNT).
The Heat is increasing capacity at its home arena to 17,000 for the playoffs or about 87 percent of its usual capacity of 19,600.
“We’ll get to work,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s approach entering Game 3. “This is the playoffs. They all count the same, whether you win in a possession game or like this.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 12:49 AM.
