The Milwaukee Bucks are having fun again, and that’s not a great sign for the rest of the East.
Ok, we get it. These are not the same old Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee may have squeaked out of Game 1 against the Miami Heat with a narrow victory, but in Game 2 that was not the case. The Bucks sent a message, not only to the Heat but to the rest of the league.
The Bucks didn’t just beat the Heat in Game 2. They buried them, humiliated them, and erased all doubt surrounding this team’s standing as a championship contender.
Milwaukee outclassed the Heat and Miami didn’t have an answer for the Bucks. And it wasn’t just the fact that the Bucks were hitting nearly everything that they were throwing at the basket. It was the way they were doing it.
The Milwaukee Bucks destroyed the Heat in every way possible
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The Bucks simply just didn’t shoot a good percentage, but they were overpowering on both ends of the floor. The Bucks outrebounded the Heat by 25, held the Heat to sub-30 percent shooting from deep, clogged the paint, and shut down both Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo (for a second straight game).
Miami looked overmatched and overwhelmed from the opening tip. It was not a performance that we had seen from the Bucks in the playoffs in a very long time, but one that was very much needed. Milwaukee sent a stern message to the Heat and the rest of the Eastern Conference – these are not the same old Bucks.
Even though Milwaukee looked as if they had taken a step back during the regular season, this is a circumstance in which they needed to take a step back in the regular season to take two steps forward in the playoffs.
The Bucks are a team that was built for the postseason and the addition of Jrue Holiday and an improved set of supporting cast is something that has already paid dividends in this series against the Heat.
Holiday was arguably the difference in Game 1 for the Bucks and Bryn Forbes and Pat Connaughton went a combined 11-18 from 3-point range in Game 2 to set the tone. Milwaukee is now up 2-0 against the Heat in their first-round series and we still haven’t even gotten a Giannis Antetokounmpo game.
Even though this series is not over yet, it feels like it is. Miami had an opportunity to apply pressure on the Bucks in Game 1 and faltered to do so. In Game 2, the Bucks looked like a team that had a weight lifted off their shoulders and one that knew how good they were and how much better they were than their opponent.
Did something click for the Bucks in Game 2 against the Heat? It sure looked like it. But time will ultimately tell. Even if the Bucks get through the Heat in four or five games, what awaits them in the second round is something far superior to what they’re facing in Miami.
At least for the now, the Bucks look like a completely different team than the one that lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals last year. Milwaukee sent a strong message as they trounced the Heat by 34 points on national television in Game 2.