Sense of urgency high for Heat entering Game 3 in 2-0 hole: ‘We all want to respond’
Toward the end of the second-most lopsided playoff loss in Miami Heat history, the crowd of about 9,000 in attendance at Fiserv Forum made its prediction for the outcome of the first-round series between the Heat and Milwaukee Bucks.
“Bucks in four,” the fans chanted in the final minutes of Game 2.
That seemed like an obvious prediction to make at the time, with third-seeded Milwaukee on its way to a 34-point win on Monday to take a 2-0 series lead over six-seeded Miami. But the Heat will look to change the narrative and bounce back as the series moves to AmericanAirlines Arena for Games 3 and 4.
Game 3 is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (Bally Sports Sun and TNT).
“We can’t let Monday night beat us twice,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said following Wednesday’s practice at AmericanAirlines Arena. “We’ve got to obviously learn from it and understand that type of performance isn’t going to get it done and move forward and do whatever we can to take this one [Thursday]. Whatever it takes.”
There’s no doubt the Heat faces a steep climb out of the 2-0 hole, as it holds a 1-8 all-time record in playoff series that it has lost the first two games in. 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).
“Everybody cleared their minds and analyzed some stuff [on Tuesday]. [Wednesday] was a good practice,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said. “We practiced well. I think we covered most of the things that we need to do. Hopefully [Thursday], we’re going to show our real face.”
In order to extend the series, the Heat has issues it needs to address and solve before Game 3:
▪ The most important one is simply getting its best two players Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler on track. They have combined to average 26 points per game on 17-of-58 (29.3 percent) shooting in the first two games of the series.
Adebayo, who the Bucks are sagging off of and daring to shoot midrange jumpers, and Butler, who the Bucks are primarily guarding with Giannis Antetokounmpo, combined to average 40 points per game on 53.5 percent shooting in the regular season.
It has been a struggle for Adebayo and Butler to get to their usual spots on offense against the Bucks’ paint-packing defense. Adebayo and Butler are both players who depend on getting into the paint to score points or earn trips to the free-throw line since three-point shooting is not a big part of their games.
Adebayo has shot just 4 of 8 (50 percent) at the rim and 4 of 14 (28.6 percent) on non-rim paint shots, and Butler has shot 4 of 9 (44.4 percent) at the rim and 2 of 5 (40 percent) on non-rim paint shots in the first two games of the series.
“Jimmy and Bam don’t need to be taught what kind of reads to make,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following Wednesday’s practice. “They’ll both be assertive. They’ll both make plays for our team.”
▪ The Heat has to fix the rebounding issue.
The Bucks outrebounded the Heat 61-36 in Game 2, but part of that was Milwaukee having more defensive rebounding opportunities because of all of Miami’s missed shots. The more painful number is the 21 offensive rebounds that the Bucks turned into 23 second-chance points on Monday.
The Heat is not built to be one of the NBA’s top rebounding teams and the Bucks were actually an above average rebounding team in the regular season. So Milwaukee does have an edge in this area, but Miami can’t get crushed on the glass like it did in Game 2.
“It’s a little bit unorthodox,” Robinson said of the Bucks’ aggressive rebounding approach. “Some possessions, they’ll literally crash everybody so you got to adjust there first. We’ve watched it over and over. From there, it’s going to require big-time efforts.”
▪ The Heat needs to make more of the shots that are available against the Bucks’ unique defense.
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.
▪ The Heat’s supporting cast has to make shots.
Tyler Herro, Kendrick Nunn and Trevor Ariza have combined to score 41 points on 14-of-50 (28 percent) shooting from the field and 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) shooting on threes in the first two games of the series.
▪ The Heat has to find a way to limit the Bucks’ opportunities around the rim.
Miami limited opponents to the fewest paint points per game (41.3) and fifth-fewest shot attempts per game from inside the restricted area (23.5) in the regular season.
The Bucks are averaging 51 paint points on 27 shot attempts at the rim per game in the series.
When asked about potential changes to the Heat’s rotation moving forward, Spoelstra made it clear that “it’s not about the lineups right now. It’s about us collectively doing things better.”
Maybe returning home to play in a nearly full arena for the first time in more than a year will help turn things around for the Heat. Thursday’s Game 3 is the first one being played at AmericanAirlines Arena since it was announced last week that the team is increasing capacity to 17,000 for the playoffs or about 87 percent of its usual capacity of 19,600.
“I can speak for everybody in the locker room, we hope that the building is rocking,” Spoelstra said.
Whether it’s through tweaks to the rotation, adjustments to the game plan, or simply making more shots, the Heat knows it needs to improve fast to avoid an early playoff exit.
“Competition brings out everything: the best out of you, the worst out of you and probably everything in between,” Spoelstra said. “We all want to respond. We all felt that Game 2 in particular stung. Both games really stung, but we have to move on. ... We probably would’ve wished this game was played [Wednesday].”
