Milwaukee Bucks: Player grades from 115-100 Game 3 loss to Miami Heat
By Adam McGee
The Milwaukee Bucks lost Game 3 to the Miami Heat as they suffered a meltdown of historic proportions in the fourth quarter.
The hope was that the Milwaukee Bucks would make history this postseason, but I’m not sure this is what anyone had in mind.
As the Bucks fell to an embarrassing 3-0 deficit in their second round series with the Miami Heat on Friday night, they produced the worst fourth quarter the NBA playoffs have ever seen.
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The Bucks gave up a 27-point deficit in the final period, a fact which is only made all the more painful due to the previous few minutes representing arguably their best basketball over the entirety of the bubble.
From there, the Bucks fell on their face, though.
The version of Giannis Antetokounmpo whose unbelievable defense had started to fuel the Bucks’ offense, and who was starting to get himself in much better positions to attack, disappeared just as quickly as he’d suddenly surfaced. Mike Budenholzer’s decisions got even more baffling, culminating in Jimmy Butler again torching the Bucks late as he did in Game 1, and doing so without Wesley Matthews on the floor to keep him in check.
What happened to the Bucks on Friday was shocking, and maybe more than anything else it was just brutally, painfully sad.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the Bucks’ individual efforts from their painful Game 3 loss.