Beyond obvious adjustments and improved individual performances, the Milwaukee Bucks need to win key battles against the Heat to regain control as a team.
As the Milwaukee Bucks find themselves with their backs pushed right up against the wall just two games into their second round series with the Miami Heat, they’ve been left with no shortage of problems to solve.
One of the most pressing, though, is that the Bucks are failing to get the better of Miami in a number of key areas that have long been tied to the identity of this Milwaukee squad.
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As the Heat have picked up two crucial wins, the Bucks have looked completely out of sorts, and that’s certainly attributable to the fact that Miami has prevented them from playing their own game and dictating through the kind of style that has become their foundation.
The best rebounding team in the NBA two seasons running, the Bucks have only managed to match Miami’s average of 42 boards per game so far in the series. Even more troubling, they’re losing out in terms of defensive rebounds, with Miami securing an average of 2.5 boards more than them off the defensive glass through the first two games.
The Bucks’ rebounding has become a staple of their game, playing an important role in their defense by limiting opponent possessions, and also giving Milwaukee a platform for their offense and an opportunity to push out in transition.
It was no secret that the Bucks’ three-point shooting could be an issue, particularly as their failure to knock down open looks proved costly in the Conference Finals against Toronto last year. Instead, though the Bucks have made a very healthy 38.3 percent of their triples through the first two games but, almost unthinkably, they have done so with their volume dropping precipitously.
Attempting just 30 three-pointers per game in the series, the Bucks are trying eight fewer shots from distance per contest compared to the Heat. That leaves the Bucks almost nine triples behind their own per game volume from deep during the regular season too.
In short, when so much of the Bucks’ offensive approach has been about playing the numbers game and pushing opponents into uncomfortable positions due to a high volume three-point shooting approach, for Milwaukee to be so significantly on the wrong side of that differential so far is truly shocking.
Just as significant is the fact that the average pace through two games for the series comes in at 98.75, per NBA.com/stats. The Bucks led the NBA in pace at 105.51 during the regular season, while the Heat found themselves on the complete opposite end of the scale at 98.7, which is almost exactly the pace this series has been played out at so far.
It can’t be ignored, the Bucks are losing this series in part because they’re playing the Heat on their terms. The identity and style that Milwaukee has bludgeoned teams with for the best part of two years isn’t even close to what they’re doing right now, and if they want to turn things around, they need to dictate that the series returns to their comfort zones, and push the Heat into much more unfamiliar territory.