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MIAMI (AFP) – The Miami Heat secured their ticket to the NBA Eastern Conference final on Tuesday, beating favorite Milwaukee 103-94 as injured Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo watched from the bench.
Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic finished with 17 points apiece as six Heat players scored in double figures and Miami completed a 4-1 series victory in a forceful encounter against the best defensive team in the league.
Khris Middleton led the Bucks with 23 points.
Antetokounmpo, who received a second consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player award this season, aggravated his right ankle sprain in the first half of the Bucks’ Game 4 overtime win over the Heat.
The Bucks declared him inactive less than an hour before Tuesday’s kickoff.
The loss of Antetokounmpo, who averaged his career highs of 29.5 points and 13.6 rebounds per game this season, was a huge blow to the Bucks as they tried to do what no NBA team has done before: come back from a deficit of 0-3 to win a seven-game playoff series.
It’s the second season in a row the Bucks built the best regular-season record only to fall short in the playoffs.
In 2019 they lost to eventual champion Toronto Raptors in six games in the Eastern Conference finals.
The fifth-seeded Heat will face the Boston Celtics or Toronto Raptors for a spot in the NBA Finals.
The Celtics lead their series against the Raptors, the defending NBA champions, three games to two.
Butler, who added 10 rebounds and six assists and was a perfect eight of eight from the foul line, said the Heat’s impressive 8-1 record so far in the playoffs means nothing now.
“All of that is behind us,” he said. “We will wait and see who we get out of Toronto and Boston and then we will focus on that.
“But now it’s zero-zero, we have eight more to get.”
The Heat fell behind 28-19 after a chaotic first quarter in which they committed six turnovers that led to nine points for the Bucks.
They were left behind by as much as 13 in the first period but settled in in the second, beating the Bucks 33-18 to take a 52-46 lead at halftime.
But Milwaukee, with Middleton at the helm, refused to leave.
After not scoring for more than six minutes in the third period, the Bucks posted an 8-0 run to get within five points.
Trailing 73-65 in the final period, the Bucks cut the deficit to four multiple times, but the Heat’s depth ultimately proved too much.
“They obviously missed their MVP,” Butler said. “But we knew we were going to have to pull one out of the mud and I think this was the one.”
Antetokounmpo said he felt “lost” because he couldn’t contribute.
“Mentally it was a battle, but at the end of the day you have to trust your teammates and that’s what I decided to do,” he said after Bucks medical staff persuaded him not to risk further injury while playing.
LeBron leads the Lakers
In Western Conference action, LeBron James scored 36 points and Anthony Davis added 26 as the Los Angeles Lakers advanced to the finish in a 112-102 victory over the Houston Rockets.
The Lakers took a 2-1 lead in the series and James achieved an NBA-record 162 in the playoffs.
“He says I’ve played with a lot of great teams,” said James, who won two NBA titles with the Miami Heat and one with the Cleveland Cavaliers. “He says I’ve played with a lot of great teammates and some great coaches.”
James Harden scored 33 points with nine rebounds and nine assists and Russell Westbrook added 30 points for Houston in a back-and-forth battle that saw 16 leadership changes.
The Lakers’ reserves scored 42 points, with Houston’s only points off the bench being Jeff Green’s 16.
Rajon Rondo, who hit 21 off the bench for Los Angeles, hit consecutive 3s and hit a steal and layup as the Lakers led with a 17-5 run to start the fourth quarter.
After scoring 64 points in the first half, Houston scored just 38 in the second and the Lakers posted their second straight series win.
There was a terrifying moment in the fourth quarter, when Robert Covington and Davis collided as Davis got up to recover.
Davis’s elbow appeared to hit Covington on the head and he left the court with a bloody towel to his face, while Davis suffered from Covington’s elbow in the side.
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