The opportunity was there to offer a tried-and-true trope. But the Miami Heat also knew better after trailing by as many as 36 points Wednesday night.
Yes, they went into Milwaukee and stole a road victory in Game 1 to claim homecourt advantage in this best-of-seven opening-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Bucks.
To his credit, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra attempted as much.
“All things said, this feels horrible, having a game like this,” he said. “But we got one and we’re going to figure out how to get another one.”
His players, stung by the thoroughness of the thrashing, first needed time to digest what transpired in Wednesday night’s 138-122 loss at Fiserv Forum.
“I mean,” guard Duncan Robinson said, “we’ve got to lick our wounds on this one first, for sure. Obviously getting one here is good, but just the sense of urgency [Wednesday] definitely wasn’t where we wanted it to be.”
It instead turned into historic night for the Bucks and a horrific display for the Heat. It also was sobering in light of the Bucks being without All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was jumping around the bench in celebration just fine but sat out with the lower-back contusion sustained in Milwaukee’s 130-117 Game 1 home loss Sunday.
“They took advantage of our defense,” Heat forward Max Strus said of Wednesday night’s pummeling. “They made great reads. They did exactly what they were supposed to do to beat us and it worked.”
Did it ever.
The 138 points were the most against the Heat in the playoffs, breaking the record of the 132 scored by the Bucks in Game 2 of the teams’ 2021 opening-round series. The Bucks’ 25 3-pointers not only eclipsed the previous playoff record of 22 by a Heat opponent (also by Milwaukee in that 2021 score-a-thon) but tied the NBA playoff record.
“I feel like we’ve had some of these games with them, where they’ve shot 50-plus threes,” Spoelstra said, with Milwaukee on Wednesday night closing 25 of 49 from beyond the arc. “The home game we had 21 made threes [in December 2021], we were able to beat them. We’ve also had these kinds of avalanches. They had some good, clean, easy looks at the beginning. And then once they got on a roll, they were hitting some tough, step-backs, stuff at the end of the clock.
“We had an idea that they probably were going to shoot 50 plus. They answered the bell on that, and then some.”
Leaving the Heat looking lost, as if in a 1-1 deficit.
“There were some that were just wide open that we didn’t have the proper awareness and closeouts and efforts to get to 3-point shooters,” Spoelstra said. “And then we had some good ones and they were already on a roll. And then there was our fair share of glitches on some schematics.
“They jumped us. You have to give them credit for that.”
Like Spoelstra, Heat forward Jimmy Butler said you could almost see it coming, with the Bucks getting many of the same open looks in Game 1, when they were just 11 of 45 on 3-pointers.
“I feel like they probably were the same,” Butler said of the Bucks’ 3-point menu. “They just missed a lot more in Game 1. And we talked about that. Good shooters, great shooters like that, they’re not going to miss those shots.”
So Pat Connaughton went 6 of 10 from beyond the arc, Joe Ingles 5 of 6, Grayson Allen 4 of 8, Jrue Holiday 4 of 10, Bobby Portis 3 of 4. And on it went.
And with that, the Bucks found one way to beat the Heat, still yet to fully play the Giannis card, with Antetokounmpo playing only 10:50 in Game 1 before leaving injured.
With a two-day break before Game 3 at Kaseya Center, it affords the Heat the opportunity to lick their wounds, but it also means a five-day break for Antetokounmpo before deciding about a Saturday return.
Which is why 1-1 feels tenuous for the Heat, with no similar series return for guard Tyler Herro, who broke his right hand in Game 1 and is out at least a month.
“You’re always going to be upset about losses,” center Bam Adebayo said. “But the biggest thing for us, we did something we were supposed to do. Go in here, get a win. Now we go back home.”
Having wanted more.
“I would like to be up 2-0,” Butler said. “But that’s in the past now, So we’re taking it to the crib. We’ve got to take care of business on our home court.”
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