Miami Heat of America star, Bam Adebayo turned up second fiddle behind Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Adetokunbo (Antetokounmpo) in a clash play-offs’ clash in USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA).
Megasportsarena.com reports that, while Adebayo struggled for form, Antetokounmpo poured in a game-high 31 points to help The Bucks easily overcome The Heat 132-98 and move 2-0 up in their series.
Bryn Forbes (22 points) was lethal from beyond the arc as he contributed six three-pointers to Milwaukee’s total of 22, which was their highest ever recorded in a play-off game, and though Miami hustled in the second half, Adebayo’s side could not avoid the loss, which snapped a 19-game run of encounters where the Heat had scored at least 100 points.
Antetokounmpo and his colleagues received a huge does of superlatives in a feature write-up by Yahoo Spots’ Jay Connor, who stated in part: The last time we saw the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs, they were getting bullied and manhandled by a Miami Heat team that would eventually make the 2020 NBA Finals.
Maybe the Bucks’ championship veneer was merely a facade, maybe this unprecedented pandemic (and the NBA’s indefinite suspension) knocked them off their game, or maybe they weren’t ever truly ready for the bright lights and big stage.
But during their short-lived 2020 playoff run, they lost a game to the Orlando Magic in the first round and fell behind 3-0 to the Heat before getting put out of their misery in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Heat would win that series 4-1—a gentleman’s sweep in the cruelest sense—and never looked back, while the Bucks were demoralized on the biggest stage and faced an uncertain future.
On Monday night, two days removed from locking horns with Miami and emerging victorious in an overtime thriller, Milwaukee turned up the heat (no pun intended) even more in the second game of their series.
They came out the gate at a blistering pace, knocking down 10 treys and dropping 46 points in the first quarter alone—and it only got uglier from there and, by halftime, the score was 78-51, setting a new record for the highest first-half point total in playoff franchise history. When the dust finally cleared, the final score was gruesome: 132-98.
Miami got mauled in transition and while trying to execute their half-court offense, and every stop helped the Bucks put easy points on the board. And if the Heat tried to counter with disruptive double-teams, the Bucks made them pay by finding the open man.
