Milwaukee Bucks vs Heat NBA Playoffs First Round Game 1 Live Blog

With the Milwaukee Bucks hosting the Miami Heat in the NBA Playoffs it’s deja vu. Well, hopefully not to the fullest extent considering the Heat ousted the Bucks in just five games of last year’s second round.

Milwaukee has had revenge on their mind since they were prematurely sent home from the bubble last year. Everything they’ve done has seemingly been to better prepare themselves for this exact scenario–from signing offensive-minded bench players in Bobby Portis and Brynn Forbes to trading for Jrue Holiday to overhauling their offense and scrapping their primary defensive scheme. It all comes down to this.

The Heat aren’t your typical 3-seed and this promises to be a grueling series one way or the other. Miami has been clicking on offense down the stretch after a very slow start to the season. They’re 33-19 with Jimmy Butler who will be fully healthy as this series begins.

Milwaukee hosts the first two games (Saturday and Monday) before traveling to Miami for Games 3 and 4 (Thursday and Saturday, May 29th). More fans will be allowed at both arenas which will add some interesting intrigue that wasn’t there a year ago. If more games are required after that, the teams will travel back and forth beginning with Game 5 in Milwaukee on Tuesday, June 1st, Game 6 in Miami on Thursday, June 3rd, and Game 7 in Milwaukee on Saturday, June 5th.

As the Milwaukee Bucks take on the Heat in Game 1 of the 1st round of the NBA Playoffs, follow along here for live updates, analysis, and video highlights.

For each game, I’ll be sharing my live thoughts on this blog including updates, analysis of what we’re seeing in the game, and mini-video breakdowns. Feel free to keep checking back in, following along, and even posting your own analysis, thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.

6:48 in the first: Bucks 8 Heat 13

The Heat have already made it clear they are going to go right at Brook Lopez in the screening game. They’ve targeted him a number of times early via dribble hand-offs or straight ball screens and Duncan Robinson has come up big. You can see him get an easy and wide-open three off a ball screen in the clip below. Notice how deep Lopez is sitting in the paint when Robinson shoots.

4:01 in First Quarter: Bucks 13 Heat 15

Milwaukee got a number of good looks on a recent possession, including open threes from both Bryn Forbes and Khris Middleton. They weren’t able to convert.

A random note: I’m keeping my eye on Mike Budenholzer’s rotation. Will he keep two of his Big 3 (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday) in the game at all times? He almost always had one in the regular season but I think he’ll have to do two in the playoffs. So far, at least two of them have been in, but we’ll keep an eye on it now they are into their bench.

End of First Quarter: Bucks 22 Heat 24

Nerves were obvious for both teams as they missed a bunch of open looks they would normally make. The intensity is also palpable and this is going to be one hard-fought and tightly-contested game.

Following a timeout on the court, Miami inbounded the ball under their own basket and the Bucks applied some full-court pressure. After six seconds had passed the Heat finally got the ball on their side of the court and into their ATO (after timeout play) much later than they had planned for. It then took them significant time to get the ball into Jimmy Butler in the post who had P.J. Tucker matched up on him. By that point, Tucker was able to fight for good position and force Butler into a tough miss. It’s that kind of defense that will go a long way and ruin what are supposed to be high-quality possessions in ATOs.

6:35 in Second Quarter: Bucks 33 Heat 36

The questionable calls are beginning to add up against Milwaukee as we go into a timeout with Butler drawing an extremely questionable shooting foul against Brook Lopez. With the Bucks becoming increasingly more demonstrative with their unhappiness of the whistle they must ensure they keep their heads in the game. Their real opponents, the Heat, are starting to find their groove as the game goes on.

3:42 in Second Quarter: Bucks 41 Heat 40

Milwaukee finally finds themselves on top with time winding down in the second quarter. It’s been a slugfest so far and transition opportunities haven’t come often. However, Milwaukee has to try to push the pace a bit more–they were one of the fastest teams in the regular season while Miami was on the complete other end of the spectrum.

Halftime: Bucks 53 Heat 50

Milwaukee’s offense definitely started cooking in the latter part of the second quarter despite them not being able to make anything from behind the arc (2-17 from downtown in the first half). Middleton, Holiday and Antetokounmpo found ways to get the ball in the hoop. The defensive intensity was also at a 10. They were flying all over the court and applying some major pressure. If it wasn’t for a couple of bad luck plays they’d be up by half a dozen or so.

The Bucks are dominating in many ways, except for two. Miami has scored 34 total points via the three-pointer (8-24) and the free throw line (10-12) whereas the Bucks have only scored 11 (six from behind the arc and five from the charity stripe). Milwaukee has gotten some good looks from downtown too, don’t be surprised if they increase their lead simply by making their normal amount of threes. It also helps the Bucks are 11-13 within four feet of the hoop. Miami was just 3-9.

7:14 in Third Quarter: Bucks 64 Heat 62

Milwaukee was up 59-52, but the Heat are in the middle of a 12-5 run thanks to a few more threes by Duncan Robinson. Robinson has started the third quarter the same way he did the game and is now 6-for-10 from deep. Milwaukee appears content with allowing him to bomb away, however, Budenholzer didn’t look happy after his most recent three from way downtown.

2:36 in Fourth Quarter: Bucks 75 Heat 75

The offenses have continued to amp up even if the Bucks are still struggling big time from the three-point line. Jrue Holiday has found his offensive rhythm leading up to this break and is starting to take over in the two-man game. Also of note: Budenholzer has kept at least two of his Big 3 on the court at all times.

End of Third Quarter: Bucks 80 Heat 78

Holiday continued his hot third quarter and scored four more points since the last update. He even took Butler off the bounce on an isolation and hit a nice step-back jumper. Antetokounmpo had a shot rattled around the rim and then out as time expired. Milwaukee just needs to find a way to knock down a few threes and cover the arc on the other end of the court and they’ll walk away with a Game 1 victory.

4:33 in Fourth Quarter: Bucks 90 Heat 90

The biggest news is that Giannis Antetokounmpo appears to be hurt. He got caught up on an Adebayo screen a couple of possessions ago and was grabbing his left elbow and hunched over. He’s largely stayed out of the possessions since then and is being looked at by the Bucks’ head trainer during the break. We’ll see if he’s back out on the court when play resumes.

End of Fourth Quarter: Bucks 99 Heat 99

Milwaukee had plenty of chances to end the game in regulation but failed to take advantage of them. Multiple missed bunnies and free throws by the Bucks top guys combined with Butler blowing past Antetokounmpo and laying it in at the buzzer forced the game into overtime.

Final: Bucks 109 Heat 107

What a nasty, hard-fought, beautiful victory for Milwaukee. It was hardly pretty by either team, but Milwaukee walks away with the Game 1 victory. Middleton hit the game-winner with 0.5 seconds remaining when he hit a tough, fadeaway 19-footer. I fully expect this to be the Bucks worst-played game of the series, yet here they are with the victory.