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Miami Heat’s Goran Dragic beats Milwaukee Bucks’ Wesley Matthews during the second half of an NBA conference semifinal basketball game on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo / Mark J. Terrill )
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The Milwaukee Bucks lost the first three games of the Eastern Conference semifinals and then lost the NBA Most Valuable Player while trying to avoid elimination.
No problem.
The Bucks are not done yet.
Even with Giannis Antetokounmpo missing most of the game with a sprained right ankle, the Bucks extended their season to Game 5 on Tuesday. Khris Middleton scored 21 of his 36 points in the third quarter, then hit a whopping triple with 6.3 seconds left in overtime and the Bucks edged the Miami Heat 118-115 in Game 4 of their series on Sunday.
“Keep fighting,” said Middleton, who also had eight rebounds and eight assists. “That’s all my teammates did.”
Miami still leads the series 3-1, but will surely spend the next two days lamenting how this one got away. The Heat gave up 12 straight points in the final period on Sunday, wasting what was an eight-point lead in a closing game.
Bam Adebayo had 26 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for Miami. Duncan Robinson scored 20 points, Jae Crowder had 18 and Goran Dragic and Jimmy Butler finished with 17 each for the Heat.
Antetokounmpo scored 19 points for the Bucks in just 11 minutes, while Brook Lopez and George Hill each had 14 for Milwaukee.
Miami had just two points in the first 4:30 of overtime, closing in on one with a triple from Tyler Herro, but Middleton hit the night’s biggest shot to make it 116-112.
Herro hit another triple with 3.0 seconds to go, but Middleton sealed it with a pair of free throws.
Antetokounmpo had 19 of Milwaukee’s first 30 points, shooting 8 of 10 from the court. But in an instant, everything changed for the Bucks.
Antetokounmpo aggravated his right ankle sprain with 10:18 left in the second quarter, and he rolled it in, just like he did in Game 3 on Friday, while trying to pass Miami’s Andre Iguodala. He fell onto the court, clutching his ankle and screaming in pain.
He took the free throws; without doing that, he would not have been allowed to return. But at halftime, the Bucks broke the news that he would not return.
Then his game was over.
The Bucks season was not.
Middleton did everything he could to keep the Bucks afloat, scoring 21 points in the third quarter, the fourth-highest scoring of his career, with 6 of 9 shooting from the field and 7 of 7 from the foul line. His previous best quarter was 20, on November 1, 2017 against Charlotte.
And in the end, the Bucks had enough to keep hope alive.
TIP-INS
Bucks: Milwaukee missed 19 consecutive triples, the last 12 of Game 3 and the first seven of Game 4, before Antetokounmpo connected late in the first quarter. … Milwaukee won despite being outscored 51-33 on 3s.
Heat: Miami was looking to become the first No. 5 seed in NBA history to go 8-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Heat were the last undefeated team in this year’s playoffs. … The Heat lost for only the fourth time in their last 17 series closing opportunities.
SWEEP OUT
This is only the sixth time in 37 seasons that the No. 1 seed has not reached the Eastern Conference finals. It’s also the first time a No. 1 seed overall was swept from the playoffs since 2001, when the Los Angeles Lakers did it against the top-seeded San Antonio in the Western Conference finals. Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer was an assistant to the Spurs at the time.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Game 5 is Tuesday.
gsg
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