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MILWAUKEE’s Khris Middleton scored a game-high 36 points and hit a pair of free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining in overtime as the Bucks avoided elimination and posted a 118-115 victory over the Miami Heat in the Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Sunday. near Orlando.
Game 5 is Tuesday near Orlando.
Milwaukee, the East’s top seed, lost the first three games of the best-of-seven series to fifth-seeded Miami.
Things started to get bleak for Milwaukee when All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has earned Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year honors the past two seasons, sprained his injured right ankle and went to the locker room with 10 : 18 to be played. second bedroom. Milwaukee was down 31-30 at the time.
Middleton said a thought crossed his mind late in the game.
“Keep fighting,” he said. “I saw what my colleagues did. We all fight. “
Milwaukee had six players scored in double figures led by Middleton, Antetokounmpo (19 points, four rebounds in 11 minutes), Brook Lopez (14 points), Eric Bledsoe (14 points), George Hill (12 points) and Donte DiVencenzo (10) , who forced overtime when he hit his second of two free throws to tie the game at 107 with 1.9 seconds left in regulation time.
Miami was led in scoring by Bam Adebayo (26 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists) and Duncan Robinson (20 points). Jae Crowder scored 18, and Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic added 17 each.
Antetokounmpo was questionable entering the game due to the ankle injury he sustained in Game 3 on Friday. At halftime, it was announced that Antetokounmpo was out for the remainder of the game.
But the Bucks, who never lost in overtime, only got stronger from there.
It was a wild final minute of overtime, as well as a wild final minute of regulation.
Miami’s Tyler Herro hit a triple with three seconds remaining in overtime to put Miami within a point at 116-115. That was after Middleton hit a 3 with 6.3 seconds remaining to give the Bucks a 116-112 lead. That followed a triple by Herro with 30.1 seconds left to cut Miami’s deficit to 113-112.
Milwaukee avoided an unenviable distinction with victory. The last time the team with the best regular-season record was swept in the playoffs was in 2001 when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals.
But the Bucks have yet to perform a small miracle to avoid history. No team has come back from a 0-3 deficit and has won a series in 139 attempts. – Reuters
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