The Bucks have their revenge! Eliminated last season to everyone’s surprise by the Heat in the bubble, the Bucks this time swept the Floridians by winning 120-103 in this Game 4. Led all the first half, the Bucks made the difference in second with in particular a 19-2 in the third act.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, even if he was struggling with scoring in the first half, only signs the 3rd triple-double in the history of the Bucks in the playoffs with 20 points at 8/18 including 0/4 at 3-pts, 12 rebounds and 15 assists . He was well supported by Khris Middleton (20 points at 7/16 including 2/6 at 3-pts, 11 rebounds and 3 assists), and especially a Bryn Forbes on fire with 22 points at 7/14 at 3-pts and a Brook Lopez very very valuable with 25 points at 11/15 and 8 rebounds. In front Jimmy Butler still had a nightmarish scoring night with 12 points at 4/15, 10 rebounds and 10 assists despite a triple-double. Bam Adebayo (20 points at 10/17, 14 rebounds and 4 assists) woke up but it was not enough, as were the great entries into the game from Kendrick Nunn (18 points at 7/15) and Tyler Herro (14 points at 5/13).
The Heat finally got off to a good start, in particular thanks to a great Trevor Ariza, a great success from afar, who landed his first 3 shots at 3-pts while in front Milwaukee was in big clumsy behind the arc (0 / 9 to start), 10-6 then 22-12. PJ Tucker limited the damage somewhat with two straight baskets as the Bucks’ first 3-point shot, through Portis, ended the quarter with a score of 26-19. A lesser evil for Milwaukee who compensated for his 9/26 shooting by 12 points on second chances.
The Heat continued to take the lead while Giannis was on the bench, hampered by faults and still without a basket. In the wake of Andre Iguodala, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, Miami even took up to 11 points in advance while on the side of the Bucks Bryn Forbes struggled to limit the breakage with banderillas, 4 on the quarter, including one with the fault. Finally with baskets from Giannis and Middleton at last, Milwaukee veered behind 64-57 at the break, which could have been a lot worse without Forbes’ skill.
If Bam scored 2 baskets in a row at the start of the second half, the Heat had a huge run. With a Khris Middleton on display and as Miami struggled on offense, with no ball movement and individual action, the Bucks had a terrible 19-2 that put the visitors 11 points ahead, 81 -70. Fortunately Kendrick Nunn caught fire to limit the damage with 8 points in a row very quickly to come back to 7 points, before Dragic scored an award-winning basket at the last second to put his own to just 6 units after 36 minutes, 91-85 .
With 2 straight baskets from Giannis and 3-point shots from Lopez and Portis or a 2 + 1 from Lopez, the Bucks increased their lead as Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo tried to keep them in sight. Iguodala’s 3-point even reduced the lead to 9 points with 6 minutes remaining, but Giannis and Lopez put the Bucks under cover.
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