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Three takeaways from Bucks/Heat Game 4

On Monday, the Bucks faced off against the Miami Heat in Game 4 of the opening round of the NBA playoffs. In a game that Milwaukee desperately needed to win to keep their long-term postseason aspirations within grasp, Miami pulled away with a 119-114 victory. Here's what we learned:

Jimmy Butler had an all-time playoff performance.

Throughout his career, Jimmy Butler has garnered a reputation as a relentless competitor on both sides of the ball. Tonight, he took that expectation and cranked it up to 11. In the first quarter, he scored 22 of Miami's 28 points, and it didn't stop there. He scored 56 points in total, including 19 in the final six minutes of the game as Miami crawled out of a 12-point hole to stun Milwaukee. The next highest scorer on the Heat had just 15 points! This will go down as an all-time great playoff effort, especially if Miami is able to close things out.

Giannis's triumphant and tragic return.

The biggest story going into the game was Giannis's return after a two-game absence with a tailbone injury. In his first game back, he put up 26 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. That's all great, but he had a string of turnovers and missed layups in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter that ultimately put the nail in the coffin for the Bucks. He also had a couple of awkward landings throughout the night that had the population of Wisconsin holding their collective breaths. The team looked immensely better with him on the floor, but not good enough to overcome the tear Jimmy was on in the final stanza.

A chance at history?

So, the Bucks are now down three games to one in this series. I'm a glass-half-full type of guy, so I would like to look at this as an opportunity. In NBA history, there have been 13 instances of a team overcoming a 3-1 series deficit to win a playoff series. Most recently, the Nuggets did it twice in the 2020 bubble playoffs against the Jazz and the Clippers. Will the Bucks make history? Time will tell.

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