The beat goes on for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Miami Heat’s basketball season is over sooner than I predicted.
Milwaukee advances to round two of this season’s playoffs by dominating Miami 120-103 on Saturday to complete a 4-0 first-round sweep.
Brook Lopez scored 25 points, Bryn Forbes scored 22, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double — 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 15 assists — for Milwaukee.
“There’s a saying, don’t play with your food,” Antetokounmpo told the TNT broadcast. “We didn’t want to play with our food.”
Antetokounmpo ended the series with his first career triple-double in the postseason.
Rematch checked off the Bucks postseason checklist.
Bucks were down 64-57 at halftime to the Heat. Khris Middleton added 20 points. Milwaukee outscored Miami by 24 in the second half.
The off-season will be interesting for Miami.
Miami was outplayed, coached, and hustled in the series. It was completely one-sided—a rare case when the Heat faces any opponent.
Heat again was crushed on the boards outrebounded 56 to 40. Their need for size to match the Bucks at power forward and center will need to be reviewed in the off-season. Help that can rebound with Bam Adebayo.
Tyler Herro extended his franchise record of 25 consecutive playoff games with at least one 3-pointer. Only Steph Curry (112 games) and Tim Hardaway (29) had longer postseason 3-point streaks to begin a career. He was terrific in the bubble last season but missing in action in critical times in the series.
Duncan Robinson did his part appearing in each game; can he raise his game to another level? He will be due a pay raise; I don’t see him taking his talents to another team remaining in a Heat uniform.
I predict Kendrick Nunn will take his talents elsewhere to get minutes, touches, and a new contract.
Bam and Jimmy Butler have a ton of overlapping abilities. Their strengths and weaknesses line up identical much for me. They need each other; however, the lack of scoring from this series cannot happen again in the playoffs for them both to achieve the ultimate goal.
The Heat needs to move on to the next chapter. When you look at Miami’s cap situation, they are in a good position. They need to win this offseason by acquiring the big off-season free agent. The bad news it is a slim selection of big names.
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