Milwaukee vs. Miami Game 2: Bucks Eviscerate Heat, 132-98

The Milwaukee Bucks now have a 2-0 series advantage. They’d do so in convincing fashion, as they dismantled the Miami Heat 132-98 at Fiserv Forum on Monday night.

This one started out ALL in favor of the Bucks. Nearly as soon as the ball was thrown up for the opening tip, Milwaukee captured a massive double-digit lead, which led to a raucous Fiserv Forum. Threes were just RAINING in the first quarter. Milwaukee would connect on ten threes in the opening 12 minutes. That is double of what they would connect on all during Game 1. After the end of one, the Bucks led by a massive 46-20 advantage.

The flamethrowing performance from Milwaukee would continue into the second quarter. With massive sparks from Bryn Forbes and Pat Connaughton off the bench, the Bucks couldn’t miss a thing. Then, midway through the second quarter, Khris Middleton began to caught fire. It was just an onslaught. At halftime, the Bucks carried a 78-51 advantage.

The trouncing would chug onward during the third. Miami simply never could develop any answer and look deflated throughout. The Bucks would continue to pour it on. Due to all of the time it spent reviewing fouls, this quarter seemed to take forever. When the third quarter finally came to a conclusion, the Bucks owned a 107-78 lead.

From that point on, it was just crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s. It was full speed ahead and the Bucks would end up putting the final touches on a decisive 132-98 victory.

Giannis Antetokounmpo would post up a game-high 31 points. Bryn Forbes was next in line, as he contributed with a massive 22 points off the bench.

For Miami, Dewayne Dedmon led all scorers with 19 points on the evening.

What Did We Learn?

Unlike Saturday, the Bucks were able to connect on the 3-point ball. After they hit just five threes in Game 1, they matched that total in just the first quarter. In fact, they would double that and connect on ten in the opening 12 minutes. Bud attributed this to his guys’ confidence in continuing to shoot the basketball as one of the main reasons behind the improvement from game-to-game. Right out of the gates, Milwaukee was able to bury Miami with the 3-point ball and it was the main reason they were able to snag such a demanding victory.

Three Observations

Bryn Forbes is a human flamethrower.

As soon as Bryn Forbes stepped out on the court, it was clear that he was on a mission. Nearly as soon as the ball touched his fingertips, he put it in the hoop. It eventually got to the point where I was writing a tweet about how he connected on a three, then, before I could finish typing it, he hit another. It was unreal. All in all, he’d finish with 22 points and six threes off the bench. We saw this type of performance from him so many times in the regular season. Every time, it seemed to serve as a foreshadowing to what he could do in the postseason, and last night, we saw that on display. The firepower he brought was indescribable and was arguably the biggest reason as to why the Bucks built up such a massive lead.

Have a game, Pat Connaughton.

In addition to Bryn Forbes’ solid contribution off the bench, Pat Connaughton got hot as well. It’s so nice for the Bucks to be able to complement the Bucks starting five with shooters like Connaughton and Forbes, especially when they’re on. When it was all said and done, Planet Pat would finish with five threes on the evening, totaling 15 points. The pair of Forbes and Connaughton really helped take Milwaukee’s lead to the next level. We’ll see if he can replicate his performance Thursday night in Miami.

Jrue Holiday still had a massive impact on this game.

While Jrue Holiday didn’t post a large scoring output in this game (just 11 points), he was still making things happen. Last night, it centered around facilitating the basketball. He’d equal his season-high assists total, accumulating 15 assists on the evening. His ability to get his teammates involved really aided in the blowout win. It was one of the first things that Bud mentioned in his postgame availability. It’s been fun to see how different this Bucks team is different from last season when Bledsoe was with the team, and he’ll likely continue to have a massive role as we move further into the playoffs.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• This was an instant classic moment. Giannis juggling the ball coming out of a scrum:

In his postgame availability, Giannis told us that he can juggle it at least 300 times.

• Milwaukee’s offensive rebounding was pretty insane during this game. They would total 21 offensive boards on the evening compared to Miami’s nine. That speaks dividends to what type of hustle the Bucks exhibited all evening long and was a key reason why they were able to mount such a large lead.
• This was basically a football play:

• The Bucks hit 21 threes on the evening. That is a franchise playoff record. Here they all are:

• Last, the fact that the Bucks stayed locked in and didn’t let the Heat back into this one at any time was massive. In his postgame availability, Jrue Holiday mentioned how Giannis kept preaching to the team to keep the foot on the gas during timeouts. That really does speak to just the level of concentration that the team had all throughout the night — just massive.