The Miami Heat are still the defending Eastern Conference champions in the NBA, but that they are on the verge of losing that title, with the Milwaukee Bucks a win away from sweeping Erik Spoelstra’s team in the first round. Will the Bucks take out Miami in four games? Or will the Heat fight to live another game? Check out our preview of this game below.
Outside of Game 1, the Bucks have completely dominated Miami in this series. They beat the Heat in Game 2 at home, 132-98, and destroyed Jimmy Butler and company again in Game 3 Thursday in South Beach to the tune of a 113-84 score. Milwaukee is simply looking like a juggernaut in this series. The Bucks are getting contributions from top to bottom of their roster, while their defense has been doing a good job of locking up the Heat. The Heat are only shooting 38 percent from the field in this series. There’s also a great disparity in the rebounding department in favor of Milwaukee. The Bucks are pulling down 60 rebounds per contest, while Miami is only mustering 43 a game. Antetokounmpo is leading the Bucks in the playoffs with 24.7 points per game, while Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday are putting up, 22.0 and 16.7 points, respectively. Middleton and Holiday are each shooting over 51 percent from the floor in the first round.
The Bucks are 2-0 against the spread in the last two games of this series.
Neither of the top two players expected to lead the Heat in the playoffs is topping the team in scoring against the Bucks. Jimmy Butler is averaging 15.3 points on just 30.6 percent shooting from the field, while Bam Adebayo is making just 14.0 points on 40 percent shooting. Instead, it’s Goran Dragic who’s pacing the team’s offense with 17.0 points on a mediocre 42.9 field goal percentage. The Heat are a loss away from getting eliminated, and if there’s a game that they all get it together and play their best, it’s got to be Game 4. The Heat got a boost from Nemanja Bjelica in Game 3, and hopefully, he can contribute a lot off the bench. Still, it’s Butler and Adebayo who the Heat will be looking for to get them out of their winless situation in the playoffs. The Heat are averaging only 96.3 points per game in this series.
Miami is 5-4-1 against the spread in its last 10 games as the home team.
